


Renew

by readerdreamer5625



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: AU, And a lot of headcanons, Dad!Reborn, Dreams, Gen, Hey is that foreshadowing?, I am right or FIGHT ME, I want to write for Juxtapose so baaaadly..., Izuku gets taught by the two best Dads in all the Fandoms, Now continued with more chapters as a result of good reception, Result of a writer's block, Still quirkless!Izuku, Would be non-chronological, Yep there is a lot of it, dad!might
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-02-01 00:22:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 44,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12693213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readerdreamer5625/pseuds/readerdreamer5625
Summary: It all begins when Izuku is four, the same night as the day that his hopes are broken by a doctor with a single word: Quirkless.Edit: Now with series of oneshots continuing the Renew-verse!





	1. Renew

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Green Sky](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12690639) by [Hayato (TheLennyBunny)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLennyBunny/pseuds/Hayato). 



**Renew**

It all begins when Izuku is four, the same night as the day that his hopes are broken by a doctor with a single word: _Quirkless_. That night, when he comes home it is in tears, with his mother holding him tight in arms as he cries until he falls asleep. But when the world of dreams finally overtakes him Izuku finds himself waking up to a world of white.

It is a devastatingly empty place.

Still young, Izuku, despite having just literally cried himself to sleep in the waking world, breaks into tears again. For what else could he do? His mother is nowhere to be seen, in fact, there is _nothing_ to be seen.

On and on, wherever he looks, there is nothingness. Not even a ground to orient himself on, not even a horizon, just a crushing blankness of white where Izuku seemingly floats, existing all alone by himself until-

-yes, until he meets that person for the first time.

Maybe he had been moving without noticing it, which was understandable considering the lack of anything to orient himself with, but suddenly there is something in the distance. Something small, something that is moving, slowly getting bigger as though it was approaching Izuku. Or is it that Izuku was the one approaching them?

No matter. The important thing to Izuku then is that it was _something_ and that it wasn’t white. Instead, it is something black, progressively getting bigger until finally, Izuku starts to recognize that this black thing is not just an object: it is a _person_.

A tall adult wearing a fedora and with curly sideburns, in fact. Fedora-san, Izuku immediately decides, even in tears.

“And I thought I heard crying coming from here, and what do I find? A crybaby.”

Izuku doesn’t feel better at being called that. At all.

So he cries some more.

After all, what else can he do? He is still in a white featureless void, with his only company being a stranger wearing an admittedly cool hat but with only an insult for Izuku. Just as Izuku is starting to think things can’t get any worse, a hand suddenly places itself on Izuku’s head.

“Stop crying. You’re reminding me of a hopeless student of mine. Look, if the problem here is that you have nothing to orient yourself with, I’ll make you something.”

Izuku turns to look up, just in time to see a bright yellow flame suddenly forming in the man’s hand, just over Izuku’s forehead. For a moment, Izuku is scared – _was Fedora-san trying to burn away his hair,_ one part of him yells, even as the other part goes, _fire Quirk, fire Quirk, just like Dad!_ – but he realizes that no, the fire wasn’t burning him.

Even as it starts to travel down Izuku’s hair to his shoulders, straight down to his legs and feet, Izuku doesn’t feel pain. Just a warm soothing heat that soon disappears as the flames reach his feet, and once it is there Izuku suddenly has something to stand on.

A bright yellow floor, perfectly circular and surrounding both Izuku and Fedora-san, a single island of color in a sea of white.

“There, you’ve finally stopped crying. Now, care to tell me how you got here? This is not a place where brats like you should be.”

#-#-#-#

 _Reborn,_ Fedora-san introduces himself to Izuku, as Izuku explains that he has no idea either on how he got to this infinite white void. Izuku, in turn, also introduces himself by his name to Reborn – _Reborn-san, call me that_ – and just like that Izuku gets to know this strange man he has just found in an equally strange white world.

Reborn-san is, in a word, caustic.

In a way, Izuku is reminded of Kacchan as he talks to the man, the conversation going about just as well as it could with only Izuku keeping up the conversation and with the large age difference between them, but for some reason Izuku gets the idea that despite the acerbic replies and scathing tones the man uses at him, it could be a lot worse.

Like for some reason, Reborn-san is treating Izuku a lot nicer than he normally would.

Maybe, Reborn-san also was feeling lonely, Izuku thinks, and with Izuku being the only other person around Reborn-san was just putting up with him. Izuku knows that this reason is precisely why he was talking with the man in the first place – even with the golden ground that he is now standing on, this white void of a world is still terrifying enough that all Izuku could try to get his mind off of it is to talk with this stranger that he has found in the middle of it.

Still, Izuku despite his age also knows enough to not actually ask this of Reborn-san, so when Izuku finally starts to wake up and everything is going dark, Izuku doesn’t get to ask the man about it.

When he opens his eyes in his bed, with tear tracks on his cheeks and his mother still holding him in his arms, for the rest of the morning Izuku wonders if it was all really just a dream. This pondering is put on hold though, the moment he arrives in his school.

After all, by then the news of his quirklessness have followed him, and as he is surrounded by jeering classmates and Kacchan, Izuku begins to miss the white void.

#-#-#-#

Izuku returns to the dreaming world the following night, and this time, he immediately finds himself on the island of yellow flames Reborn-san had made for him. Upon seeing the man, Izuku immediately jumps towards him in tears.

“Kid, you’re crying again. Why have you come back into this world, and why the hell are you crying into my suit? Let me go, you’re going to ruin my clothes.”

Izuku pulls away, wiping away snot from his face. Reborn-san makes a noise of disgust.

“T-Today, school was the w-worst... Kacchan and the others, t-they, found out that I was Q-Quirkless...”

For a moment, Izuku regrets admitting to that, worrying that the older man would treat him the same as others at the fact that Izuku lacked a Quirk, but then the older man only responds with, “Quirkless? What’s that?”

Reborn-san is immediately besieged with stares from Izuku, his misery forgotten at being faced with someone that didn’t _know_ what Quirks were.

“Quirks? Quirks are superpowers nearly everyone has! Like your Quirk!”

The man only shakes his head despite Izuku’s disbelief. “What I do is not a Quirk, kid. And as far as I know, not nearly everyone has superpowers. If things have changed that much since I came here, then the world outside this place must be very different indeed.”

For a moment, Izuku is shocked. At this point, he has seen Reborn-san use what Izuku previously thought to be his Quirk several times, mostly to make the occasional flame object to distract Izuku whenever he got too chatty.

Izuku’s favorite is the chameleon-shaped one, as it appeared the most often, but for that to not be a Quirk? That was... that was...

For a moment, Izuku tastes hope. “Reborn-san, can you-!?”

“No, kid, I know what you are already going to ask.” Reborn-san shoots him down, not even bothering to let Izuku finish his question. “I’m not going to teach you how to handle Flames. I’ve had enough students for two lifetimes and I’m not going to add you to that list.”

Despite the pain of being shot down so quickly, Izuku can recognize... sorrow? Was that sorrow in Reborn-san’s voice? But normally, the older man was calm and collected, with the occasional sarcastic remark and smug tone every now and then.

This is the second time Izuku is in this world and has met this man, but he already is sure that sorrow is not something normal for the normally-cool person he knows. And for this to be brought about by Izuku’s request of being taught...

At four years old, Izuku already has the emotional quotient of a person more than thrice his age. So, understanding that the subject brings the other person pain, Izuku doesn’t dare ask Reborn-san about it anymore.

Reborn-san seems to understand what Izuku’s has come to, so for once, he makes an attempt to proceed with the conversation. Izuku thinks that this is something like an olive branch for him, something that the older man is doing in thanks for knowing not to pry.

“So, Quirks. Kid, what do you know about them?”

#-#-#-#

A few months pass, just like that. Izuku remains Quirkless, and slowly the teasing that he receives from his classmates become more severe, the taunts carrying more and more malice. Izuku only manages to visit the sleeping world every now and then, but with both Reborn-san and Mom supporting him in their own ways – with his Mom being more overt about it of course, Reborn-san’s kind of support was to order Izuku around about getting over himself, advice interspersed with derogatory comments – Izuku manages, but then comes the straw that breaks the camel’s back:

_Deku. Because you’re useless, and you need to be reminded of your place in the world!_

That same night, Izuku is once again crying in Reborn-san’s island, and this time, the man doesn’t even try to resist as Izuku wails in his arms.

“R-Reborn-san, t-today Kacchan t-told me that I w-was u-useless. ‘Useless Deku,’ h-he said. The other k-kids, they all t-teased me, calling me n-names and telling me that K-Kacchan was right, that I would never amount to anything-”

Arms wrap themselves around Izuku. For a moment, Izuku hears Reborn-san mutter “ _Goddamnit, I must be getting soft”_ before Reborn-san is holding him tight, with yellow fire wrapping around the both of them.

As it is always with Reborn-san’s Flames, Izuku doesn’t feel pain, only warmth at being surrounded by them, and soon his tears are licked away by the golden flames as Reborn places a hand below Izuku’s chin.

Reborn-san makes him lift his head and meet him in the eyes. “Izuku.”

Izuku blinks away tears, because this is the first time Reborn-san has actually called him by name as opposed to Kid or Brat or something along that vein. “Y-Yeah?”

“I’m going to teach you how to unlock your Flames. I’ve had enough of hearing you repeat the same sob story over and over again, and you’re not even the only person I’ve heard it from. Get ready, because you asked for this.”

Izuku only has a moment to comprehend that before suddenly everything is on fire.

#-#-#-#

_Congrats, Brat. You have Sun Flames just like I do._

_S-Sun Flames?_

_Flames have multiple types. You share a type like mine. Strange, I would have normally thought that you would have Sky... but that would be too much of a coincidence, wouldn’t it? For all of the students I take on to have Sky Flames._

_T-Tell me more, please! H-How do I use this? What do they do? Types, does this mean they have different effects? C-Can I use this in the real world?_

_I don’t know if you can use Flames outside of this place. And yes, I’m going to tell you the rest about Flames in time. This is not my first time in being a teacher and this time I don’t have anything else to distract me from teaching you everything you need to know._

_I-If I can’t use Flames outside this world, then why...?_

_You asked for it, didn’t you? And as I said, I am merely unsure whether you could use it out of this world or not. Wouldn’t it be better to know how to use this than to never use it at all?_

_..._

_Any other questions?_

_Reborn-san... why did you finally decide to teach me?_

_...because you really frustrate me so by reminding me so much of my students. Nothing more, nothing less. Now get to work._

#-#-#-#

Months, then years pass. Izuku learns more about Flames from Reborn – _don’t call me Sensei, and drop that damn honorific, your formality is starting to grate on me_ – but in the end, at the age of fourteen he never manages to use his Flames outside of their dream world.

He can easily use it in his dreams, yes, but in real life? Not so much. A strange sense of disconnect forms between the realms of sleeping and waking for Izuku: in his dreams, he has Reborn teaching him about Flames, teaching him stances and how to fight despite Izuku never developing muscle tone from said training, and in the waking world he is still bullied and mistreated for something he never had.

There is a time that Izuku worries about his experiences with Reborn being just that – dreams, figments of his imagination, and with how Reborn doesn’t even seem to age as Izuku grows up, it becomes all the more likely – but Reborn easily picks those worries out of his head and gives him something to do when he is awake.

When Izuku asks his Mom to order him suspension bands to train with at the age of nine, his Mom immediately checks if Izuku is feeling alright and if such training tools really would benefit Izuku. As soon as his Mom returns from a training instructor, confirming Reborn’s advice of doing stretches and suspension training, Izuku knows that Reborn is real and not just someone he had made up in his head ever since he was four.

So at the age of nine, Midoriya Izuku starts training himself. In the meantime, as he does so in real life, he makes an effort to protect himself from Bakugou Katsuki. While there will always be a part of Izuku that wants to be friends with Kacchan, Reborn’s advice on learning how to pick his battles tells Izuku that as he is right now, becoming friends with the other boy is impossible.

So despite feeling extremely lonely and becoming more and more introverted day by day, Izuku learns on how to avoid Kacchan and his wrath as much as he could. At moments, Izuku finds himself staring at the other boy’s direction, _yearning_ to be accepted and to have a Quirk just like his, but the rest of the time Izuku is either hiding from Kacchan or being caught and bullied by the other boy.

Thus, the disconnect. With Reborn’s teachings, building up confidence comes slowly but surely in the dreaming world, especially with how Izuku learns to call up his Flames and use them to turn the featureless void just a little bit brighter, just a little bit yellower and less empty than it had been before Izuku met Reborn.

Outside the dream world, that confidence and the Flames leave him back into little useless Deku once again, despite Reborn’s lessons. At most, Izuku only learns how to keep to himself, to train and to keep up a facade well enough in front of his Mom to not make her worry.

Izuku also picks up the habit of analyzing Quirks, and soon enough Izuku has made around a dozen notebooks filled with Quirk analyses, though nobody else other than him manage to see them as Izuku refuses to let them see the light of day.

At this point, he has learned enough about subtlety, thank you very much. After the first time Kacchan blew up at the sight of Izuku writing in one of his notebooks, Izuku learned to not let anyone see them lest they start asking him what they were for.

Because if Izuku was asked that and had to answer that it was to make up for his lack of Quirk... no, he had enough. Better to hide it than to be taunted for it.

So, that is how Midoriya Izuku, age fourteen, leaves school for home one afternoon near the end of his last year in middle-school. He has just managed to avoid Bakugou’s attention, dodging out of class just in time before the teacher could call Izuku out for signing up for Yuuei, and is about to leave a tunnel when he is attacked by a villain.

It is, in a word, terrifying.

Mud wraps itself around Izuku, a villain whispering threats in his ears, and Izuku is choking, choking, just choking and wanting to use his Flames, but they aren’t coming out, _they aren’t coming out-_

And then quite suddenly, it changes as Izuku meets All Might for the first time.

#-#-#-#

_Kid, I never thought to ask, but why did you ask me to teach you how to use Flames? Because I’m pretty sure that you’re not the kind of kid to want power for the sake of having it._

_Reborn, I’m not a kid anymore!_

_Humor me._

_Alright, but don’t laugh, alright?_

_I’m not going to promise anything._

_I guess that’s all I can get. Look, I want to be a hero, alright? Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be like All Might, like the Symbol of Peace._

_..._

_Hey, I thought I asked you not to laugh! Just because it sounds really stupid of me, this is serious!_

_No, I’m not laughing at you. Not directly, at least. I’m just amused by the irony._

_What do you mean by that, Reborn?_

_Nothing. Now get back to calling up those Flames of yours. I’m still not satisfied with the control you have showed me._

_S-Stop changing the subject, and that’s pretty much everything we can do here anyway! You can’t tell me that you can’t explain why you’ve found me so amusing just now when I know we have all the time we need!_

_Sure I can. I just did. And it’s not that I **can’t** explain it to you, only that I won’t. Now, get back to work, Deku._

_..._

_What is it now, kid?_

_You never call me that. Deku._

_...really, did I just call you that just now? I must be really wasting away here if I make mistakes like that._

_Reborn, why don’t you call me Deku like everyone else does? In fact, only Mom calls me by name at this point, with you calling me Kid or something like that all the time._

_Get to work, Izuku._

_Alright, got it, don’t talk about it. You don’t have to say any more._

_Funny, from all these questions I thought you would never stop talking._

#-#-#-#

Izuku is just recovering from his encounter with All Might and the following disaster of a talk with the Symbol of Peace when he grips his fists and slams them on a nearby lamppost. Beneath the blow, he hears his fingers creak and feels blood drip from his knuckles, but Izuku ignores the pain.

After all, it doesn’t compare with the soul-searing _hurt_ that is the result of meeting with his number-one Hero.

It isn’t that he doesn’t understand where the Hero was going when he told Izuku what he thought. After all, it isn’t the first time he has faced those words, and even Reborn had commented a few times that without being capable of using Flames in the real world Izuku’s dream of becoming a Hero is a foolish goal.

But there is knowing that, and _knowing_ that even All Might thinks that Izuku should change the course of his life. There is hearing those words from the other teenagers, from Kacchan, from his Mom and even Reborn, and there is _hearing_ those words from the person who probably knew most about being a Hero above all else.

So was there any wonder that Izuku could feel nothing but heartbreak in this moment?

And it isn’t as though Izuku hadn’t tried to fight back, when Muddy was overtaking him. Izuku had indeed been struggling with all of his might, trying to make use of the physical training he had under Reborn’s advice and his Mom’s help, but what could mundane blows and hits do to something liquid?

He also had tried pulling on his Flames, as always, but it still felt trapped within him. Untapped. For a moment, Izuku thought that he could actually pull it up for once, while Muddy was choking him, but even that was a failure and were it not for All Might rescuing him he wouldn’t be alive.

So that left Izuku with nothing. Nothing but being Deku.

He is still wallowing in his grief when he finds himself watching a commotion in the middle of town. Old habits making him climb up something to get a better view, Izuku is shocked when he sees Muddy once again free and covering none other than Kacchan.

Despite All Might’s advice ringing in his ears, despite Reborn’s teachings of picking his battles, despite Kacchan’s mistreatment of him over the years and the fact that this is a very _poorly thought-out_ thing to do, before Izuku knows it he is already running, making use of his legs to jump into the fray to try and rescue his childhood friend.

“Let Kacchan go!”

Izuku manages to kick at Muddy’s eyes, causing them to shriek out in pain, but soon enough Izuku’s actions are showing their stupidity as Muddy wraps himself around Izuku, the ongoing watchers and nearby Heroes gasping as an idiotic teenager jumped in into the fight with nary a plan nor a Quirk.

_So this is how I’m going to die, huh? I’m so sorry, Mom, Reborn, even All Might. I failed you-_

Something grabs at Izuku’s leg, and this doesn’t have the liquid consistency as the rest of what is capturing Izuku. Izuku turns, just in time to see Kacchan looking at him with irate eyes, the anger clear but not without showing just a hint of desperation that like him, the other teenager is _afraid._

And suddenly Izuku is reminded of exactly why he did this. Why, despite it all, Izuku jumped into this despite there being no hope and Izuku having nothing that he could bring despite his usual Deku self.

_Why do you want to be a Hero?_

Yeah, that was it, wasn’t it...

_Because I want to be like All Might!_

How is it that Izuku has forgotten what brought him into this path in the first place? What made him want to become a Hero?

_I want to save and protect people, to bring about peace and to be their Hope!_

_And he **can’t become that** if he dies now._

Just like that, something snaps, and as though in defiance with how reality has decreed things to be, Izuku suddenly bursts out into Flames. Lit up in bright yellow, Sun Flames of the highest purity spill out from every bit and surface of Izuku, having been waiting and saved up all of these years for the chance to finally show the world of what is within him.

_I won’t be able to rest in peace until I become a Hero!_

Something screams. Izuku doesn’t know if it’s him, Kacchan, or Muddy who is making that screeching noise that fills his ears.

#-#-#-#

When Izuku wakes up, it is to a familiar world, and this time it feels a little too final.

Unlike when Izuku first arrived in this world, nothing anymore is lit up in white. Instead, it is a place filled with yellows, the color somehow not painful in the eyes and instead warm and soothing as though a mother’s embrace.

And the first hint that something is wrong is that Reborn is starting to fade away.

“Reborn? Reborn! W-What’s happening?”

Despite the way the man is fading, his arms already gone up to his elbows and his body nonexistent below his knees, Reborn doesn’t look terrified. Not that Izuku expected of it from the man – to Izuku, Reborn has always been calm, collected, and unwavering. A pillar of strength that always existed in a place where Izuku and only Izuku could meet him.

“So this is finally happening, huh?” Reborn’s eyes turn up to meet him. “I thought so.”

Izuku is afraid. “I-Is this because I used my Flames for the first time outside this world? Is that the cost of using my Flames? Am I the one at fault for this?”

Before Izuku knows it, a small fireball of Sun Flames smacks him in the face.

“Stop thinking like that, not everything is about you. It just so happens that it is happening now instead of earlier or later.” Reborn scolds, and despite the situation, Izuku feels a little chastised. But then Reborn actually smiles at Izuku. “So you have finally used your Flames huh? Did you just have a life-threatening situation outside this world? Sure looks like it.”

Izuku catches on quick at the implications of Reborn’s accurate rhetorical questions. “S-So... it was necessary for me to be exposed to life-threatening circumstances to use my Flames? T-Then, why didn’t you tell me?”

“You mean to ask me exactly why I didn’t tell a reckless kid to not try and court danger? And I thought you were smarter than that, Kid.” Reborn snarks back, despite the way he is only left with his torso at this point. “I knew you were going to have one, sooner or later.  You’re the kind of brat to not be able to keep your sizable nose out of things.”

Izuku sniffs said nose, tears already forming in his eyes. “R-Reborn... Please. Why is this happening? Why now, of all times?”

Reborn closes his eyes. “Izuku.”

As with all of the times Reborn actually calls him by his name, Izuku straightens. “Y-Yeah?”

“I have never told you of who I used to be before this, so listen up and remember my words very clearly. Because this will be the only time you would be hearing them from me.”

And so, Reborn starts telling Izuku of his past. Of how he was a hitman, the World’s Greatest Hitman, in a world entirely different from Izuku’s own. Of how he was part of a Family called the Vongola, also the greatest of them all, and how he taught two students, the two of them growing up to be Mafia Bosses.

He speaks of one Dino Chiavarone and one Sawada Tsunayoshi, of how they used to be called weaklings like Izuku before Reborn entered their lives and trained them into becoming people of respect. Of how he had actually loved them like sons.

Of how they died before Reborn in a war between Famiglia and how Reborn soon followed in their footsteps.

To say that Izuku is shocked about this information is an understatement. Despite having moments of curiosity for the older man’s past, Izuku had always known to never ask because it would always bring about painful memories for his teacher.

At this point, the fact that Reborn actually used to be a criminal didn’t even matter. Because the thought of living like that, to actually outlive one’s most important people – and knowing Reborn, because Izuku knows the apparent hitman more than said hitman thinks – and to blame oneself for bringing them into the world of Mafia and thus their deaths, is not something that Izuku wants to wish on anyone much less the person who taught him and supported him for all of this years.

“So when you told me I reminded you of them...”

Reborn actually manages to look wry. “Let me tell you, kid. If Dame-Tsuna and Pipsqueak-Dino ever met you, you three would get on like a house on fire and I mean that literally considering your Flames. They’ll probably even adopt you as a brother – both of them do have the habit of doing that with random kids.”

“Deku.”

Reborn looks confused at Izuku’s response. “What was that, kid?”

Izuku has tears in his eyes. “You call your students by their nicknames, right? Call me Deku then, please.”

Reborn closes his eyes again, and for a moment, Izuku thinks that he is too late when Reborn meets his gaze and calls him, “Deku. Is that right, do you really want me to call you that, Izuku?”

Izuku nods, tearing up. “Y-Yeah.”

“Odd kid.” Reborn says, but the hitman has a smile on his face. “So this is how it feels like to finally move on...”

Izuku’s thoughts were right. Reborn really was moving on. And with how the rate Reborn was disappearing immediately started to get faster the moment Izuku got to call him Deku, Izuku has an idea why, which only makes him break further into tears. “R-Reborn...”

“Don’t make me say goodbye, Deku, because you better damn believe it that I’ll be watching over you even in the afterlife. I’ll even get those two idiots to do it with me, though at this point I don’t doubt that they are already watching over the two of us now. So don’t you dare make me say goodbye.”

Izuku shakes his head, making the best smile he can despite the circumstances. “A-Alright, I won’t, Reborn. Watch over me, alright? I’ll definitely meet you again.”

“And don’t you dare make me meet you again soon, you brat.” Reborn says affectionately, and these are the last words as the rest of his body glows and disappears all at once. “Because after no less than ten years of having to put up with you, you really should give me at least eighty years of peace to make up for it...”

When Reborn finally disappears, leaving nothing but motes of light in his place, that is when Izuku finally breaks out into loud sobbing.

“Damn it, R-Reborn. Eighty? That’s a long shot and you know it...”

The yellow dreaming world is once again empty of all inhabitants except one breaking into tears, and this time the child has grown into an adult the other person could be proud of.

#-#-#-#

Toshinori doesn’t know what to feel about this.

When Toshinori saw the kid that he talked to earlier that day jump into the middle of the other heroes’ confrontation of Muddy, he had been impressed. When young Midoriya Izuku burst out into golden flames despite supposedly being Quirkless, he had been shocked.

And when those flames lit up in a pillar of a firestorm that would make even Endeavor bow and weep in envy, Toshinori had been in _awe_.

Was this really the boy he had talked to earlier about having no Quirk and how it meant he couldn’t become a Hero? Because this wasn’t Quirkless, definitely wasn’t it, not with its power and how it caused a sudden blazing wind to pick up and start blowing things away around the kid.

Did this mean that young Midoriya had lied? Most likely not, considering the look that had been on the kid’s face when he asked Toshinori about being Quirkless. Especially not, once he hears several people yelling and confirming the boy’s Quirklessness prior to this.

So that meant that this boy had indeed jumped into the situation not expecting to be able to use anything other than his own fists, and had managed to somehow unlock his Quirk for the first time in the process. And with such a first debut, it was already pretty clear that this was no Quirk to underestimate.

“He’s going to burn both the other kid and Muddy into a crisp!” Backdraft yells beside Toshinori, and Toshinori grunts as he considers that possibility. Indeed, at this point, from the looks of it Midoriya could be more danger to others than the villain he was trying to save young Bakugou from. “Everyone, aim your fire hoses! I’ll assist!”

As one, the local firefighter team aims their fire hoses at the golden maelstrom of heat and flame, but to the shock of watchers, as soon as the streams of water touch the yellow flames they start evaporating, leading to a giant steambath.

Immediately, the firemen turn off their hoses, not willing to steam-cook everyone in the vicinity, and as though taking revenge for the attempt to put it out, the pillar of flames suddenly expands, seeming all the more powerful and golden for their efforts.

A wave of flame actually makes it towards the crowd Toshinori is in, and before Toshinori can even transform to try and do something, the wave arrives – only to do nothing but leave them comfortably warm.

“H-Huh?” One of the women beside Toshinori gasps, taking away her arms from over her face from how she had reacted at the incoming flames. “I don’t feel hurt. In fact, I actually feel a bit better-”

Toshinori doesn’t have the time to further study that as something wails out of the firestorm, rolling in the ground and trying to put off the flames on them. Toshinori manages to catch a glimpse of the other heroes just in time to see them separate a badly burned Muddy from young Bakugou, the teenager not looking harmed in any way.

_I can’t believe it, but could it be? A Flame Quirk of this power, this ferocity, burning only inanimate objects and people the user considers a threat? Forget making Endeavour envious – this would outright make him want to adopt this boy as his!_

But despite it finally seeming over with young Bakugou rescued, the firestorm continues, leading Toshinori to realize that young Midoriya _still doesn’t have control over his newfound Quirk._

While the worry of the boy causing too much harm was gone now, that still left the possibility of young Midoriya literally burning himself inside out! Toshinori had to find a way to snap the boy out of it – if only Aizawa was around!

No matter. If that is the case, the answer is simple.

Toshinori takes a step away from the crowd and closer to the center of the flames. Behind him, he hears the firemen and other Heroes say something, probably to take him away and prevent him from doing the same thing as young Midoriya did, but Toshinori has to do this.

He would have normally done this as All Might, but he already spent up his time earlier. And really, this is only his responsibility – maybe, if he had treated young Midoriya differently, maybe if he had actually supported him instead forcing the boy to have to do this just to activate his Quirk, it would be different.

But the fact was that the boy who offered help first beyond all the Heroes, beyond Toshinori himself, needed help and only Toshinori could offer it now.

Toshinori enters the flames, and like he expects, it doesn’t burn him. It doesn’t even hurt, though there is a strange itching around the site of the wounds One for All had made.

He approaches the center of the flames, and the boy is there, crying in a ball as he held his arms around his legs. Despite having saved young Bakugou and defeated Muddy, it is as though the boy has lost something very dear and for a moment Toshinori doesn’t know what to do. That is, until he remembers something from a time far gone, from his own teacher.

_Toshinori, don’t you know how to cheer up crying kids? It’s easy!_

With a soft smile on his face at the memory, Toshinori pats young Midoriya Izuku by the shoulder. This takes him several tries, but finally it seems to take out the boy out of his tears and causes him to raise his head, just in time to face Toshinori’s smile.

“Young Midoriya, you will now be alright. Why?”

The boy catches his breath, and-

“Because I. Am. Here.”

As though a bubble has popped, suddenly the flames disappear around the two of them. Midoriya Izuku meets him in the eyes, looking shocked and happy for a moment before falling into a dead faint, and Toshinori manages to catch him just in time for the boy to not have a painful meeting with the pavement.

All around the two of them, Toshinori could see everyone watching the two of them. At the sight of Midoriya Izuku looking safe and sound in Toshinori’s arms, despite the emaciated form of Toshinori’s body and face, they react-

“WOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

It is amazing, how something so normal to him as All Might feels so new in his current form.

(And when Toshinori drops young Midoriya Izuku over to Recovery Girl for a checkup later that day, only to find out the sudden recovery of a good portion of the damage all over his body, Toshinori can only turn at the unconscious form of the boy he has brought to U.A.’s medical wing in awe.

As for young Midoriya Izuku though? He may have lost a teacher and a father-figure in one day, but in that same afternoon he finds himself another one, no less amazing than the person who helped him move onwards to his dreams before.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Good lord help me with the writer’s block I have with Juxtapose. This is not a chapter for that fic, but here’s an idea I’ve been having for a while now. People keep giving Izuku Sky Flames for the rare KHR/BHA crossover, so I thought, what if I did something different? What if I had Izuku meet Reborn in a dream? After reading Green Sky by FoxofPerdition just earlier today, I finally came into a decision.  
> And so this oneshot was made in a single night after long days of writing almost nothing, maybe to be continued on a later date. :D
> 
> I do need the help for Juxtapose though, my ongoing fic. For one, I do need a beta-reader who could pick out my mistakes for me, and another I need someone to bounce ideas off of. I have written myself into the pickle of having to write a nearly helpless boss battle, and I need someone to slap me straight and point me the direction of where to go.
> 
> Just give me a PM if you want to help. Or if you don’t, just leave a review for this fic – reviews are always the balm of my soul, the source of my inspiration! That, or TodoDeku. I always love reading TodoDeku. :D


	2. Phoenix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which There Is A Meeting

**Phoenix**

U.A. is a school made in mind with the thought of raising the next generation of heroes. Thus, every year the school has to handle thousands of applicants, and from these thousands, U.A. takes nothing but the best of the best, the cream of the crop, until they only have a little above three hundred students.

And even from those three hundred students, not all get to be heroes. Much get placed into the Support and Management Departments, and most of the rest sent to General Education. Only a select few, a measly _forty_ students out of thousands, get to go directly to the Heroic Department, where they would be shaped and taught to be the heroes of the next generation.

Each of these students, without a doubt, have their own stories. Every single one who apply for U.A. have their reasons to apply, may it be for money, fame, familial duty, or even for the good of all. But despite this fact, U.A. treats them all as equals – even the few who get in through recommendations only have the advantage of skipping the starting line.

But never has this happened. That the school would go out of their way to admit a _single_ student, to hold a meeting of teachers not even two months into the current school year, even if it could be considered understandable due to the circumstances.

“Let me have the honor of beginning this meeting.” Nedzu starts, with his paws tapping on the conference table. “First, a roll call. Aizawa-sensei?”

Aizawa, or less commonly known as Eraserhead, nods, looking to be in the need of sleep as usual. “Everyone’s here, Principal Nedzu. Kayama, Ishiyama, Hizashi, and of course Recovery Girl. The would-be teachers and critical staff of the incoming year’s 1-A. And as for our famous guest...”

The man nods at the corner of the room, where Toshinori is standing while in the role of his heroic alter-ego. “All Might. I would say it is an honor to meet you, but needless to say I’ve had enough experience working with you on the field.”

“And you’ve made it very clear that you’re _not_ impressed with me.” Toshinori can only laugh, holding back on the urge to scratch the back of his head. Instead, he pumps out a fist and his chest, displaying nothing other than the famous friendly ego of the Symbol of Peace. “Nevertheless! I am honored to be here!”

“That is good to hear.” The Principal comments, before turning back to the rest of the meeting room. “Now, as all of you probably know by now, this is about the admission of a certain young boy into our school. Tell me, has anyone here haven’t heard of a certain Midoriya Izuku?”

“Has anyone not!?” Hizashi laughs at the outright impossibility. “How could possibly anyone have missed that boy reaching international news!? A supposedly-Quirkless child, activating his absurdly-powerful Quirk for the first time in public, revealing himself to be a diamond in the rough!? That is the makings of a heroic origin right there!”

“That question from the Principal was rhetorical and you know it.” Kayama shoots back from opposite the loud teacher and radio personality, before placing a hand on the side of her face with a sigh. “Still, the poor boy. For it to have become this talked-about, no doubt he must be facing scrutiny from all sides by people who have no respect for his privacy. I know how that feels.”

“Groups of all inclinations and sides have taken Midoriya Izuku’s tale in various ways.” Ishiyama observes, much to the nods of the rest of the room. “Quirkless activists have made him their forefront in their efforts to eliminate segregation, citing that if one Quirkless boy could become so important there could be more Quirkless people of similar ability waiting in the shadows, while those of the opposite member have actually made him also their subject of powerful Quirks needing the proper support and care to blossom.”

“And that’s just the civilians.” Principal Nedzu adds his two cents. “In the meantime, within the Heroic community select individuals like Endeavor are already making themselves heard about wanting to take the teenager in as a sidekick, and I don’t doubt that the same thing is happening with those of our enemies. Midoriya Izuku is now the figurative golden egg of the decade, a previously unknown individual that everyone now wants for themselves.”

“And now, Midoriya-shounen has revealed his wish of joining U.A.”

Everyone turns to Toshinori who made that announcement. Toshinori doesn’t mind the attention, especially when he was the one who brought this issue to them in the first place.

“All Might, I must ask.” Aizawa is the first one to speak from the silence that had been the result of Toshinori’s words. “How is it that you know this boy personally, that you were the one to bring in his highschool aspirations sheet before us?”

Before Toshinori can even reply, Recovery Girl answers, “It’s because he is the boy’s current protector.”

The reaction to that from the rest of the room except Nedzu is probably not as bad as what could’ve been had it been anyone else. Aizawa only nods once at this information, probably having just confirmed his suspicions, while Ishiyama and Kayama start to look a little relieved, having been worrying for the boy’s wellbeing and who better to ensure that than the one and only Symbol of Peace?

Only Hizashi actually does voice out his disbelief, “Wait, wait, wait, so not only does this boy have that absurdly powerful Quirk of his, he also has none other than All Might himself protecting him? Talk about lucky!”

Part of Toshinori wants to admit then and there his shameful initial meeting with the boy. How he had missed Midoriya Izuku’s potential and almost convinced the child out of becoming a Hero entirely. At this point, he had apologized to Midoriya-shounen of course – but despite being forgiven, Toshinori’s guilt has not abated not even by a bit.

But to admit to that now is both something a Symbol of Peace cannot do and an affront to his protégé’s privacy. And he has done enough mistakes with handling Midoriya Izuku. Thus, despite the guilt, Toshinori only smiles, his real emotions hidden beneath the facade that is All Might.

“The good luck is none other than mine, for Midoriya-shounen is an earnest boy and a determined student besides! He has all the makings of a great hero, to the point that sometimes I even worry that he is _too_ dedicated to becoming one! Not that there is any issue with being a little too enthusiastic, of course!”

“We’ll be the ones judging that, once we actually become his teachers.” Aizawa responds dryly in face of all of Toshinori’s commendations. “It is good to know that the boy is certain in his wish to become a hero, but our issue here lies with the fact of who he is now to the rest of the world as opposed to who he is as a person.”

The subject returned to Midoriya Izuku’s admission to the school, Nedzu speaks again. “Indeed, correct you are Aizawa-sensei. I am only overjoyed to get this chance to admit such a child of high potential for our school, but with such potential comes with its own dangers, a potential to invite trouble much like a feast laid out in front of a pack of hungry wolves.”

“Villains will be coming in droves to test our security to get him, you mean?” Kayama asks, and Nedzu can only nod from his corner of the room, confirming her worries. “I do understand the potential of that happening, but surely it’s not that bad?”

“All Might is the one who has the answer to that,” Nedzu responds, turning to Toshinori.

Right. With all of Toshinori’s efforts in helping Midoriya-shounen and keeping him and Inko off out of the public view, it was no wonder that the other Heroes weren’t aware what happened. “Three times. Three times I have already needed to intervene in abduction attempts, two for Midoriya Izuku and one for his mother.”

At his words, the other teachers straighten their seats at once. It’s as though the temperature has dropped by a few degrees, and Ishiyama is nothing but grave as he inquires, “You’re here right now. I take it that you’ve left them under the protection of someone suitable?”

They are with Gran Torino. Toshinori knows no one more adept on keeping things in the down low, except for possibly Aizawa, and despite his age the old man was still a terrifying combatant besides. “There’s no one more that I would trust with their protection.”

Ishiyama nods and Nedzu takes the chance to get the attention of the room again.

“Now, as you can see, this is no trifling affair. Thrice the Symbol of Peace had needed to step in, and I don’t doubt that there’ll be more following. Even other wunderkinds of this generation like Endeavor’s son and that daughter of the Yaoyorozu line who had famously declared her wish to become a hero haven’t had kidnapping attempts, yet a child under the protection of nothing less than the strongest Hero had multiple. We must consider this as a declaration of war, especially with the information All Might managed to glean from the third would-be kidnapper.”

Aizawa turns to Toshinori, to which he elucidates, “It had been a minor villain, one with a Quirk capable of compressing objects and people into marbles. When we managed to take him in, Tsukauchi-kun had just managed to get the hints of some kind of villainous organization backing him when a dark smoky portal formed within the cell, taking him away directly from our grasps.”

“I take it that had been the act of said villain organization.” It isn’t a question, but Toshinori nods back at Aizawa anyway. The Erasure Hero then turns to their Principal. “Combine this with the other equally-susceptible targets for abduction this coming year, like the other two students you mentioned earlier, it only does seem right for us to hunker down and improve our security, Principal. It’s not that we shouldn’t trust our defensive capabilities, but rather we shouldn’t merely risk it.”

Nedzu smiles, “And I already have some ideas on how to counter a teleportation Quirk.”

“That’s good to hear and all, but may I ask something? From All Might, this time.” Hizashi is actually somber as he speaks, though with a lighter tilt in his tone than what there would have been earlier. Toshinori faces the man, waiting for the question. “All Might, I know I have repeatedly made my views on the boy’s Quirk clear, but what _exactly_ is his Quirk? Much of the news on it have run into just speculation at this point, and I know that there would only be a grain of truth in all of that madness.”

Toshinori, as a response, only turns to Recovery Girl. “You know this more than me, Chiyo.”

“I suppose that does leave the job of explaining Midoriya Izuku’s Quirk to me.” Recovery Girl nods, and once the other teachers in the room have turned to her, she intertwines her fingers over her cane. The look of interest on their faces is clear, “All Might brought the boy to me early on to their acquaintanceship, to check if Midoriya’s new Quirk had any negative effects on the child that would need careful supervision. And so, I had the chance to be the first one to study the boy’s new Quirk, to which I devised the name for:

“Quirk, Phoenix Flames.”

The resulting silence is palpable. The choice of nomenclature for Quirks have been and always been about trying to summarize the overall individuality of a person in a few words, so the choice of a legendary creature to be part of a Quirk... one could perhaps call it audacious, maybe even ostentatious. But Recovery Girl was never the kind of person to exaggerate and thus it could only be true.

“P-Phoenix?” Toshinori had never heard Present Mic whisper once in his life, but this moment is a close one. “Recovery Girl, does that mean that the boy could revive-”

“Of course I’m not saying that, for one how could I test something like that? I chose the name for another reason.” Recovery Girl interrupts and the other teachers actually heave a sigh of relief. A Quirk that could deal with the powers of life and death... there were strong Quirks, and there were the absurd. “It has been said that the flames of phoenixes can choose what they burn, and there are other parallels besides. For one, is anyone here unaware of the second-year student Nejire Hado?”

Toshinori has to blush when he is the only one who raises his hand.

“Understandable, considering you’re not part of the staff and are busy with active Hero work,” Recovery Girl comments, turning to him, “Well, Nejire Hado is an up-and-coming second year student with the Quirk Wave Motion. It allows her to convert her lifeforce into shockwaves of pure energy which she uses in combat. I hope you understand the similarities she has with your protégé.”

Eyes going wide, Toshinori has to nod, and seeing this Hizashi speaks up again.

“You mean that Midoriya Izuku’s Quirk also uses his own lifeforce to make flames? That does sound like it would make stronger fire than other Quirks, as well as explain why it only burns those he chooses to burn.”

“If only it were that simple.” The nurse shakes her head, causing the teachers to lean in once more in interest. “You see, Nejire Hado’s Quirk is an interesting comparison, as while it uses up her lifeforce, it only converts it into pure mechanical energy, like the shockwaves All Might here uses all of the time. As for Midoriya Izuku, I termed his Quirk as it is because when it is activated, it uses up his lifeforce to only release them _in the form_ of yellow fire.”

Kayama tilts her head. “...I don’t see the problem.”

At her statement, Aizawa makes a despairing groan, causing her to glare at him in search of an explanation. “What Recovery Girl meant here is that while all Midoriya Izuku’s Quirk seems to do is to make flames, much like Endeavor, the truth of the matter is that it’s nothing but a mere false impression. It looks like fire, but it _isn’t_ fire.”

“It’s pure life energy in the form of flames.” Hizashi summarizes, and Aizawa nods. Present Mic turns to Recovery Girl. “That has to mean something beyond creating heat and burning things, doesn’t it? Because I don’t doubt it can burn just as well as any other kind of flame, considering what was left of the boy’s Quirk debut.”

Recovery Girl only gives All Might a _look_ , and with a sigh, Toshinori tries to make a decision. To trust, or to not trust? In this room, only Nedzu and Recovery Girl knew of the truth of Toshinori’s past injury, of his previously emaciated state, and the habit of keeping it secret remains. But things have changed, are different. Keeping it secret is no longer as important as it had been before, plus all of the others are certified Heroes Toshinori could trust besides.

The answer is surprisingly easy.

“Do all of you remember the battle I had with a certain villain five years ago?”

Explaining everything feels practiced. Which is not surprising, because in a sense, it is. Toshinori has had practice in explaining his physical condition with Midoriya Izuku, followed by a similar explanation for the boy’s mother later that day when Toshinori took them both under his protection.

Both of the Midoriyas had nothing but understanding for Toshinori’s injury, and as soon as the boy’s Quirk came to light, things changed for Toshinori, and only for the better. The mother-and-son would be able to comprehend just how much Toshinori appreciated their help, he knows.

The fact that he can make this explanation as All Might with no issues is just one of the things Toshinori has to thank the two for.

“...much of my respiratory system got damaged, and I lost my entire stomach. When I first met Midoriya Izuku, I was stuck with only three hours a day as a fight-capable Hero, with deterioration of my overall fighting capability besides. It was after I spent these three hours that I became witness to the first public exhibition of Midoriya Izuku’s Quirk.”

Horror fills the faces of most of the teachers in the room. Even Aizawa, normally the calm-headed one, looks a little uneasy at his words for a moment before catching something in something Toshinori said.

“ _Only three hours?_ ” He repeats, and Toshinori has to smile at the sharpness the other hero is displaying. “But that would mean...”

Aizawa shakes his head, actually looking a little impressed. “No wonder the boy warrants the personal protection of so many people. His Quirk, if one is aware of its entire capabilities, is a force multiplier for an organization equal to several of us in this room combined.”

“What did you just figure out, Aizawa?” Kayama asks, looking like she hadn’t understood what just happened as well as still a little uneasy at Toshinori’s admission.

“Healing. That’s what makes Midoriya Izuku’s Quirk so complicated in today’s world. He is capable of healing others with his Phoenix Flames.”

Jaws drop, and soon the teachers turn to Recovery Girl in shock, especially once she nods in confirmation. And how else could they react? In this world filled with Quirks, out of so many ways people to destroy, harm, and protect people the most influential of Quirks had and would always be about being capable of healing others.

Why? Because combat-capable Quirks, while not absolutely common, are many and easily overlap with one another in terms of categories. A Hardening Quirk, for example, would pop up at least four times in the population of a small city, and while there are other offensive Quirks that are absolutely rare like Midnight’s own Somnabulence which is perfect for crowd-control, nearly all of these combat-capable Quirks could be substituted with the right weaponry, people, and preparation.

But Quirks that were capable of healing others? They were different. Even with the recent breakthroughs of human technology and medical care, with the advent of Quirks the technology just couldn’t keep up with the suddenly-rising numbers of people who get injured every year due to Quirk confrontations. And nobody understands this fact more than both Heroes and Villains.

After all, when one considers the life-expectancy of their chosen paths, it only becomes inevitable that at some point one, whether they may be a villain or a hero, would personally know at least one person who doesn’t make it out a confrontation alive. Even the ability to heal minor injuries could end up saving people’s lives on the field.

Hence the ongoing battle on healing Quirks between both sides. Most famously, the Heroes had Recovery Girl, but there were others, few and far in-between. The Heroes had the advantage of having the most healing Quirks – after all, the tendency with Quirks was that those who could heal were the ones who actually _wanted_ to help people – but in turn they also had the disadvantage of these people being overworked, their morals as Heroes doing nothing less than to heal and save as much lives as they could.

And while it was indeed the only right thing to do, even the accolades that came with helping people with a healing Quirk came with a cost. Fame always meant that nearly all healing-capable Heroes were known figures and often targeted by the worst villains, and combine that with the heavy stress and workload of these healers, all the Heroic Association could do was to heavily protect and watch over their own healers, even as these healers were held accountable by the public by their jobs.

Compare to that to the side of the villains that, while lacking of the order and cooperation that Heroes had, had underground healers and doctors, entire _villainous organizations_ centered on healing, that could easily be bought with enough money and had enough subtlety to prevent the Heroes from weeding them out for helping their enemies...

Indeed, the silent battle of healing Quirks behind the scenes was even between both sides, and thus every single player counted. Every person with a healing Quirk were to be carefully put under watch, hoping that they would side with the heroes and not with their enemies.

A person with a Quirk capable of direct combat _and_ healing like Midoriya Izuku’s Phoenix Flames though?

This is different. This is _extraordinary_.

“This... changes everything.” Ishiyama whispers, and nobody can deny the truth in his words. “The closest Quirk we know of with such capabilities lies on the side of our enemies – indeed, what little we know of the Eight Precepts’ tell us that most of their success lies on what is rumored to be one of their members’ Quirks, an ability to heal and fight in the same time.”

Principal Nedzu turns interestedly at the blocky teacher. “Ishiyama-sensei, I didn’t know you were so well informed on such matters!”

“I only heard of it from one of my coworkers, back when I was called in for the takedown of their previous boss, as one of the Eight had a Quirk similar to mine,” Ishiyama wards off the praise easily, “We didn’t manage to capture the entire group though, as well as the member with the rumored Quirk, so we expect they’ll be popping up again soon enough.”

“Still,” He turns to Recovery Girl, “Is everything told about the boy’s Quirk in regards with his potential combat ability really true? Because if it is, we have really gained a new powerful advantage in our hands.”

Recovery Girl smiles back, looking proud. “That and more. Not only is his Quirk capable of fighting like any other powerful Fire Quirk, with testing we have concluded that careful use of his Flames can tremendously increase the physical capabilities of people, especially himself. Midoriya-kun has also shown a surprisingly high level of control for his Quirk, even when you take into consideration his Flames’ ability to only selectively burn objects.”

“The last I saw of the boy practicing, he was making animal shapes with his Quirk, a particular favorite of the other kids that had been watching him being a chameleon. He also had several of his own ideas of testing his Flames on other living things like plants, and there seem to be interesting paths that way as well.”

Hizashi whistles loudly at that. “Well, that’s definitely a kid there who won the superpower lottery, especially when you consider the fact that he only gained it at the ripe age of fourteen!”

Aizawa has a different look on his face. “There must be a catch though. Even powerful Quirks have problems of some kind, and considering we’re speaking of a Quirk that deals with the user’s lifeforce here, there has to be some issues.”

The nurse actually sighs at that. “Yes, you are correct there Aizawa-sensei. Soon, we also figured out after the boy exhausted himself testing with his Quirk that using it weighs heavily on his stamina, both mental and physical, and deeper testing revealed that overuse could possibly lead to him falling into a short coma and possibly sickness as his body fails to fend for itself from opportunistic pathogens in his exhaustion.”

Hizashi winces. “Sheesh, that does sound harsh.”

“Usage of his Flames aren’t exactly without cost on those affected either,” Recovery Girl continues, ignoring the loud man, “Like mine, it taxes the physical requirements of healing injuries on his patients, and overuse could possibly lead to cell death for those affected. But otherwise, with careful use and a source of nutrients on hand for those affected, there are no major issues for Midoriya-kun’s Quirk other than for his own recklessness. I had to forcibly pull him out of the hospital we were quietly testing his Quirk in several times now.”

“Good grief, not _another_ idiot without survival instincts.”

Toshinori has to sheepishly chuckle at Aizawa’s words, obviously directed for him considering the glare aimed his way by the teacher. “I’m not that bad, am I?”

“You’re the Symbol of Peace who after losing his stomach, instead of doing the rational thing and retired, decided to forge on and continue to be an absurdly self-sacrificing hero when nobody in the _right mind_ would blame you for finally throwing in the towel and leaving things to the next generation.”

Considering how Endeavor reacted when Toshinori visited him with Midoriya-shounen on tow, what did that say about the #2 Hero then? At least his protégé seemed to have gotten along like a house on fire with young Todoroki, pardon the pun.

“Wait, _three hours_? Three hours! I finally got it!” Kayama yells, and the rest of the room turn to her just as she snaps her finger. Realizing that the other people in the room caught her with her hand placed on her chin like _the Thinker_ , she swings her hands below the table before turning to Toshinori, “Midoriya Izuku healed you, didn’t he? You must be – if you were so terribly injured, no wonder you know the boy personally! You may even have been his first patient!”

Even _Hizashi_ gives her a dull stare. “Yeah, we all got that earlier. You only realized that now?”

“Never mind that!” It is truly an odd to see someone in such provocative wear blushing like a schoolgirl in her embarrassment, but Toshinori manages to focus on Kayama properly just in time to receive her question. “So, if you’re better now, wouldn’t that mean that you can be combat-capable for much longer? That you’ve regained what you have lost before?”

Toshinori has to smile at that, and this time even in the form of All Might it comes to him softly and without the forcedness of his Big Smiles. “Yeah. After Midoriya-shounen’s help, I can now stay as a Hero for seven hours a day, and Smashes previously lost to me are now within my grasp. Chiyo even tells me that I’m finally picking up on weight properly.”

_Master, I can still stay a little longer as the Symbol of Peace. I don’t have to retire yet, even if I do have a good successor of One For All by my side. Just a few more years, just a few more years._

_Then I can finally let go of the mantle and pass it on to Midoriya-shounen like you had with me._

“That is, if he doesn’t push himself too far again.”

“Recovery Girl, now, now, don’t be like that.”

“Oh , don’t get me started with _you_ , Principal Nedzu! If it weren’t for your insistence on supporting All Might here in his harebrained dedication into making things more difficult for himself, then his physical state wouldn’t have gotten as bad as it had been when Midoriya-kun had to heal him! Imagine, all that work on the poor child!”

Toshinori snaps back into the conversation just in time to see U.A.’s nurse scold none other than the school’s very own Principal, and the oddness of the situation has him turning to Aizawa in hopes for an explanation.

Too bad the teacher had already taken out his sleeping bag and was napping in his seat like a yellow and particularly chubby caterpillar.

“Want me to snap them out of it?” Hizashi asks, and Toshinori could only nod. “Alright.”

Toshinori’s eyes go wide as the radio personality starts to fiddle with something in his speakers, and he slams his hands over his ears just in time to protect his eardrums from the loud noise that then fills the room.

Several minutes later, Hizashi is mummified by an irate Aizawa with the hero’s scarf, and both Recovery Girl and Principal Nedzu are back in their seats, calm as though nothing had happened save for the slight shaking that exposed the ringing in their ears.

Having just watched it all happen, Toshinori chuckles from his corner of the room while Kayama and Ishiyama exchange bets below the table.

“So, what did we conclude from this meeting?”

“That Hizashi should have his mouth stuffed up with cotton, or at the very least, should be muzzled until further notice.” Aizawa deadpans, causing Kayama to giggle. “But for all seriousness, the first thing is that a need to improve our school’s security has arisen.”

Nedzu nods, turning to Kayama, “And?”

“And we should probably prepare ourselves for a problematic batch next year?” She states, or rather, asks considering the lilting tone she ends her answer with. “I know kids, and I’m pretty sure that there would be some major rivalries considering the batch we’ll be getting.”

Ishiyama makes an agreeable noise, and satisfied with the result of the conference, Nedzu declares, “If that’s the case, then this meeting is concluded!”

The teachers soon file out of the room, leaving behind Toshinori with the Principal and Recovery Girl. Hizashi manages to free himself just in time to pass his personal number for Toshinori to give to his protégé though – “Just in case he wants my help with my radio channel!” – and soon, one phone number richer, Toshinori turns to the only two people in all of U.A. aware of the secrets of One for All.

He deflates back into his actual form, and with a smile, he again observes how his arms don’t look so much like sticks in his clothes anymore. Indeed, while his entire body was still swimming in his oversized t-shirt, it wasn’t as bad as it had been just a few months ago.

“You really look better this way, Toshinori-kun.”

Toshinori lowers his head, meeting the eyes of the Principal. “Hm?”

“Ever since you’ve met the boy, you’ve looked... better. And by that I don’t just mean better-looking,” The Principal’s eyes gleam brightly as he says this, causing Toshinori to rub the back of his head embarrassedly at the praise. “I also mean that you look happier nowadays. I’m glad that Midoriya-kun came into your life if this is the fruit of that meeting.”

“Sometimes, I don’t feel like I deserve this though,” Toshinori sighs, easily sitting on the conference table using his height, with Nedzu on his left and Recovery Girl on his right. “After all, with what I told the boy when we first met...”

“Oh not this again,” Recovery Girl mutters to herself before tapping her cane on Toshinori’s head. “Yagi Toshinori, _All Might_ , how _many_ times do I have to remind you that Midoriya-kun has already forgiven you for that? The boy is just not the kind of person to hold a grudge, something you really should be aware of by now considering his treatment of that boy he rescued and their history. Stop being so guilty all the time.”

“Does this happen that often?” Nedzu pipes up on Toshinori’s other side, much to Toshinori’s embarrassment when Recovery Girl nods with as much resignation she can deliver in a single movement opposite the Principal. “Toshinori-kun...”

At the combined looks he is receiving, Toshinori raises his hands in defeat, standing up and walking away. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop being so crestfallen, stop giving me those looks, Principal Nedzu, Chiyo.”

Chiyo sounds absurdly satisfied as she hums, “Good to hear.”

“If that’s the case, what do you think, Toshinori-kun?” The Principal inquires, and Toshinori already knows what he is talking about. “Would you finally take on that teaching position I’ve asked you to take before now that you know your future coworkers?”

Toshinori, for a moment, just thinks about that. How everything is leading up to this, how he has found his successor but with said successor needing more protection than pretty much anybody else in his age. How Aizawa and the rest had reacted so well to Toshinori’s previous health problems, even if Toshinori hadn’t dared to reveal his actual form other than All Might.

With his better health, he can finally go on longer trips outside of Mutsutafu. No longer will Toshinori need to be tied down in one city when the rest of the country needs his help, no longer will All Might be reduced to preventing petty crime on the streets when he could return to coordinating with the police to take down large cases, like perhaps even this up and coming villainous organization.

But to do so would mean missing Midoriya Izuku’s growth, the same way Shimura Nana had missed Toshinori’s. To do so would mean to cause the boy the same pain Toshinori had faced, not capable of properly connecting with his mentor growing up.

With that thought in mind, in the end, the choice is easy.

“Yes, I’m going to take it. I’m going to be a teacher here in U.A.”

The way Nedzu smiles makes Toshinori know that he has made the right choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I’ve always thought about Flames and their potential in terms of plot in the BnHA World. And I know the KHR fandom’s obsession with Sky Flames, with Mist, with Lightning and elements like that, but in the end when I actually sat down and thought about it, I realized:
> 
> In a world such as Boku no Hero Academia, the most important type of Flame would be those of Sun Flame users.
> 
> Why? Because it is capable of healing, and as this chapter shows, that potential is something that is absolutely crucial in a world without many people with healing powers. Hence, the possible effects of Midoriya Izuku gaining Sun Flames to the plot, and how the rest of the world might react to this golden egg popping out of nowhere.
> 
> I’ve never really planned on continuing this fic beyond that kind of thinking, but then people convinced me to continue this story. To continue writing oneshots for this verse, even when all I had in mind was to write a story involving Izuku with Reborn.
> 
> So here is how it goes:  
> 1) You guys suggest what you want to see, or what you think is going to happen after this. If enough people vote for the same thing, I’ll make that chapter, hopefully in between finally continuing to write for Juxtapose.  
> 2) These oneshots will not be in chronological order. In fact, assume that as far as this story is concerned, I have no compunctions as to maintaining any sense of narrative order between the chapters. Each chapter would be able to stand on their own.  
> 3) If anybody has anything interesting in mind for worldbuilding in this verse, tell me.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, because there’ll be more incoming. Leave reviews and kudos before you go!


	3. Warmth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inko's day after Izuku's incident with Muddy. First part of the Surprise Triple Mega Update.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating this for so long, but don't think that I've abandoned this just yet!

**Warmth**

Midoriya Inko is frantic.

When the day began, she never thought that events would quickly lead up to this situation. Katsuki-kun had been delivered to Mitsuki-chan’s arms by the police sometime ago, less than an hour ever since she had heard what happened to her son, but despite the youngest Bakugou returning home and recuperating from his encounter her son still wasn’t by her side.

Despite all of the questions she had for the police officers, nobody had anything definitive to say about her son. Only “We promise you’ll see him soon” and “He’s alright, he’s in good hands at the moment” when all Inko wanted was to finally _see_ her son again.

Why weren’t they letting her meet her son!? Her poor boy, jumping into a villain attack to save his friend, only for this to happen!

The news stations are ringing about her Izuku. Inko had the horrible experience of turning on her television after cleaning the house, expecting to see her favorite soap opera only to see her son’s face on the TV screen, with the news announcer going wild over the apparent unearthing of her son’s Quirk.

Her Izuku, _finally_ having a Quirk. Inko would have been overjoyed at the news, if it only hadn’t been like this. After all, while she knew her son had always wanted to not be Quirkless anymore – and it was a Flame Quirk at that, oh how Izuku took after his father – she was also sure that her son didn’t want his entire life... _paraded_ all over the country like it was some god-sent underdog story!

Where did they even get all of that information!? Didn’t they have any sense of ethics to not invade her son’s privacy!?

Midoriya Inko has always considered herself a respectable woman, and earlier when Katsuki-kun was returned home and brought a swarm of reporters with him, it was only that consideration that kept her from using her own Quirk to smack the rude reporter that had tried to interview her with the camera her companion was carrying.

Inko is wringing her hands when finally, one of the police officers approach her of their own volition. Behind the man, his coworkers move to hold back the line of reporters in front of her and Izuku’s apartment, and Inko can only feel relief once she hears a dog-headed police officer bark warnings at the reporters regarding privacy laws and harassment suits.

“Ma’am, I believe you’ve asked for the location of your son? I’m here to lead you to him.”

Tears leave her eyes of their own volition. “Oh thank god, where is he!? How is my Izuku!? Nobody is telling me about my son!”

“That is why I am here.” The policeman has to shield Inko from the reporters as the camera flashes start, and with one arm over her shoulders to guide her shoulder, the man guides Inko to a nearby policecar. “I understand you must be feeling worried and frantic, but please believe me when I say that your son is doing as well as he probably could at this point. He is under watch by Recovery Girl, and brought to our watch by none other than All Might. We merely had to make preparations for his private hospital stay, which is why we took this long to get to you.”

Despite the man’s words, Inko only gets more worried. “H- _Hospital_!? Why is my son in the hospital!? Did he get h-hurt, or did he burn himself w-with his new Quirk, oh my god, if he had to be taken care of by Recovery Girl then he must be-!”

“I suppose I really should have phrased that better,” The man sighs as they finally enter the car, the door closing shut and finally blocking off the noise of the reporters. Soon, the car is moving, presumably to the hospital her son was in. “Ma’am, if I may correct my mistake, as I said earlier your son is alright. He had merely exhausted himself into a deep sleep, and Recovery Girl had only been called in because All Might didn’t want to take any risks with your son.”

Finally starting to calm down at that bit of good news, Inko can only ask, “B-But why would All Might care so much about my son?”

Before the policeman can respond to her question, now that the moment of panic has passed, Inko remembers something. She slams her hands over her lips, embarrassment coloring her features as her apparent social faux pas makes itself known to her.

“O-Oh my god, I have been so rude to you, I’ve been asking so much of you when I don’t even know your name! I-I’m s-so sorry!”

The man only smiles at her apology, taking his fedora off his head and holding it over his chest. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind. You were being emotional, and somebody forgetting to ask my name and being interrogated by people I’m trying to help isn’t the worst thing to happen to me in my job.”

The blush refuses to leave her face, Inko manages to lift her head up this time.

“Here, let me introduce myself properly: my name is Tsukauchi Naomasa, a detective from the Police Force. You can refer to me by Tsukauchi-keiji.”

Etiquette kicks in, and soon, Inko is bowing her head again, this time in introduction.

“My name i-is Midoriya Inko, I hope you take care of me.” A thought passes her mind, and soon, Inko is wringing her hands again, “T-Though, I suppose, at this point you probably already know my name without me introducing myself...”

“I apologize if that makes you feel uncomfortable, but such is the circumstance of this meeting of ours Midoriya-san.” Tsukauchi comforts her, and soon, Inko meets him in the eyes, feeling much less stressed now that she has gotten a measure of the man’s character. “Anyhow, I believe you were asking me as to why exactly All Might himself brought this case to us?”

Remembering her own question, Inko nods, “I-It’s not that I d-don’t believe he isn’t that good of a man to h-help my son, but a man of his reputation probably has better things to do than to help-”

“Help the boy who is now under heavy scrutiny by the mass media, you mean?” Tsukauchi interrupts her gently, and Inko immediately understands. “Even though I believe that All Might really would help your son to this extent without needing such an impetus, the fact is that your son is now under much attention by so many people.”

“It is rare that for a Quirk to only emerge at such a developed age, and even rarer that its first use is so dramatic that it catches the eye of even the most powerful of people. Your son is now a person of interest, and part of what caused us to take so long to get to you was the necessity of finding the right hospital that your son could reside in without catching the attention of anyone with untoward intentions.”

Bile rises to Inko’s throat as she quickly catches on to Tsukauchi’s allusions. “You m-mean, Izuku is g-going to be targeted for this? Not only are the reporters barging into our home, but _criminals_ could suddenly start looking for my son!?”

“We can only consider that as a possibility, hence the measures we have taken.” The look on the detective’s face is disheartening for a moment, but soon the man picks up his expression for Inko’s sake. “As a father to a son of my own, I understand your dread, but Midoriya-san, look at the bright side! At least your son finally has his Quirk, and that he is under the protection of no less than our best Heroes.”

In that moment, a memory flashes by Inko’s eyes.

_Mom, I want to become a Hero! When I get my Quirk, I’m going to get so strong, so much stronger until I can help people like All Might! I’m going to be so cool that everyone will respect me like they do for him!_

Midoriya Inko had always been a solitary mother.

When Izuku had been born, he had been the apple of her eye. Still is, especially after Hizashi left her and her son to fend for themselves, but the world had never been particularly kind for Inko and her son.

Quirkless.

One word, that was what it all took, to destroy Izuku’s dreams. Her Izuku, who only dreamed of becoming like his heroes, being told from day one that he could never become a Hero, and it will always be Inko’s worst regret that she told her son the same thing when they returned home that day ten years ago.

It had a huge effect on Izuku, Inko knew. After all, after that first night of Izuku crying into Inko’s arms to sleep, her son had noticeably started changing. It hadn’t been anything obvious, or too much that had Inko calling for a child specialist, but slowly her son started pulling away from her, sometimes looking so _lost_ but refusing to let Inko again be that guide to help him back home.

Her son never stopped chattering to her about Heroes, but he did diminish in his declarations in wanting to become one despite Inko knowing that his dream hasn’t changed one bit. Izuku, despite standing a little taller sometimes, no longer met her in the eyes as much as he used to when he was just a toddler.

Talking to Mitsuki-chan revealed that Izuku no longer talks as much as he used to with Katsuki, even if her son continued to refer to the boy as ‘Kacchan’. And every movement, every motion her son makes had this hint of _desperation_ , of a wish to prove himself to the world that Inko just worries so much for her son.

So when Izuku had asked her for her help in finding training for him, Inko could only support her son in his latest endeavor. She called up a professional trainer from a local gym, pulled out all stops just to finally get her son smiling at her again without that hint of disillusionment hiding behind his lips, and it does work. These days, whenever her son felt like he needed help, he knew that he could approach Inko about it.

But there is always still that hint, that reminder that Inko had failed her son, and it still gnaws on her in this moment.

But that gnawing feeling has nothing in comparison to the emotion building up in Inko’s chest. After all, while Inko had, for one night, failed her son, for the entirety of those ten years the rest of the world had just as easily thrown away her Izuku like trash once he was declared Quirkless.

And _now_ , only now that her son had revealed himself of actually being the user of a very powerful Quirk and rescued Katsuki-kun from the hands of a villain would the rest of the world dare to come back and bring _this_ to their doorstep?

It causes a bitter smile to form on Inko’s face. “But the fact that you already know without me telling you that all he wanted was that is a sign of just how this fiasco will affect his life from this day on, isn’t it, Tsukauchi-san?”

 _After all, the only reason you could be aware of it is because my son is now a ‘person of interest’,_ goes unsaid.

Tsukauchi doesn’t have anything in response to that, and Inko can only wait with the man in silence inside the car as they head towards the hospital her son is kept in.

#-#-#-#

When they arrive at the hospital – first thing Inko does as she enters is to ask for its location; she will _not_ be stopped from returning here and visiting her son again tomorrow, if that’s only if she couldn’t camp herself inside her son’s room for the rest of his stay here – Inko finally gets led to the room her son is in, and what she sees makes her forget her bitterness for a moment in a rush of pure maternal worry.

“Izuku!”

Nobody stops her as she runs towards her son’s side, and though Izuku only has an IV drip attached to him through a tube to his right arm, it is as though her son is dying that Inko grabs on to her son’s bedside with all of her might. After all, with the way her son’s eyes are closed like that, it almost looks like Inko is looking at him in his deathbed as opposed to him just being exhausted.

“When will he wake up!? Please, tell me!”

A hand places itself on Inko’s shoulder, and she turns just in time to meet the wizened face of none other than Recovery Girl.

“He’ll be waking up in due time, Midoriya-san.” The healer comforts, and Inko, choosing to trust the older woman considering everything she heard about her, relaxes. “Quirk Exhaustion happens to all of us, and you son is in fact lucky that all his Quirk seems to take from him is his energy. I’ve put him on a nutrient drip, just in case, but I believe he’ll be doing just fine.”

“Now, won’t you seat with me outside of the room? I believe we have something to talk about.”

Inko turns to her son, “But Izuku-”

“Will be here even after we go through the door. I’ll even let you keep him in sight through the window if you want me to, just let your son rest in peace for now. Today has been a very tiring day for him.”

Inko can’t argue with that. Today had been tiring for _her_ too, and she wasn’t even the one who had to face a villain. So she soon places a sweaty hand over her forehead, wiping away the matting hair from her face, and with a kiss on her Izuku’s cheeks, she acquiesces to Recovery Girl’s request.

The first thing Recovery Girl says is, “I believe you’ve heard of the events that have led to your son here?”

The familiar coil of bitterness forms in Inko’s throat, waiting to be unleashed, but unwilling to be rude to the one taking care of her son’s wellbeing, she pushes it down, clamps her mouth and forces out a nod. She didn’t dare to speak.

“I’ve checked your son’s medical records, and it is truly strange that his Quirk has only emerged this late, and that is not even considering his previous diagnosis as Quirkless.” Inko flinches, as if almost by habit, at the word. “If I have just offended you, I must apologize, but your son really does have that extra toe joint. To be honest, I’ve only know of one other case with such qualifications of emerging with a Quirk despite being called Quirkless for more than ten years of his life.”

There was someone else like her Izuku? “W-Who is this other person?”

“All Might, who just gave me permission to tell you this earlier.” There is a glint in Recovery Girl’s eyes as she says that, as though there is some in-joke that the healer is only privy to, but Inko is too flabbergasted at the news about the Symbol of Peace to notice. “He thought that it might comfort you, knowing that your son isn’t alone in this kind of situation.”

“All Might had once been considered _Quirkless?_ That’s, that’s, I never heard of-!”

“Of course you haven’t, after all it’s a very well-kept secret.” Recovery Girl continues blithely and Inko can only stare at the healer. “All Might’s duty as the Symbol of Peace constitutes him to be as indomitable as possible, and though previously being called Quirkless does not at all demerit all of his achievements, we thought it would be best that only a few would know about it as it might lead to some foolhardy villain to challenge him out of some preconceived sense of superiority for it.”

Of course, the real reason for the hush-hush was to protect the secret of One for All, but what Recovery Girl just told Inko wasn’t exactly untrue. After all, there _were_ some villains that might challenge All Might for it – but then again, there was already a boatload of reasons for them to do so. Adding one to the list wouldn’t matter much in the long run, so if it only didn’t mean risking the safety of One for All’s succession Recovery Girl would have pressed Toshinori to reveal it to the public earlier.

After all, the news of the #1 Hero previously being considered Quirkless probably would have helped the public treatment of the Quirkless people who didn’t get the luck to be handed with a Quirk like Toshinori did.

But then again, with the boy sleeping in his bed inside the hospital room, maybe that wouldn’t be as necessary anymore. This, unlike One for All, was a very real story of a Quirkless child emerging with a powerful Quirk, and as much as Recovery Girl would like it to not have to be this way, powerful Quirks really did go a long way with convincing the populace to rethink things.

They were, after all, what led to the development of Quirk Laws in the first place.

Maybe at least, this would keep the more discriminatory voices silent, lest risk angering another Quirkless individual only for them to gain a powerful Quirk later on and turn Villain that way. If Midoriya Izuku were to become a Hero, the boy’s future reputation would also go a long way to mending relations between those with Quirks and the Quirkless.

_I feel terrible, thinking like this about a young boy for the sake of everyone. Pinning my hopes on him like this, it’s like a repetition of Toshinori’s dream of becoming the Symbol of Hope all over again._

This, Recovery Girl keeps to herself, as she watches the mother before her try and absorb that bit of news. Toshinori had wanted Recovery Girl to tell her this particular secret, thinking that it might go over well.

She asks softly, “Do you indeed feel better, now that you know about this?”

Inko catches her breath, mind still reeling. Does this comfort her? She thinks hard about it, how it makes her feel, and with a sudden realization she nods as she does start to feel better.

If All Might had been Quirkless at some point and still became a Hero, and not just any Hero, but the best of them all, then... there was someone who would be there to sympathize with her son. Inko tries, tries so much, but she knows that as much as she tries to understand, she would never really truly get what her son feels as she always had her own Quirk and Izuku didn’t.

But for All Might to be that person for her son, especially when for all rights, it is starting to look to Inko like All Might _wanted_ to be that person...

Inko falls into one of the seats outside of her son’s window, and with her hands cupped over her mouth, for a moment Inko just _sobs_ in relief.

It doesn’t remove the bitterness, not entirely, but...

“Yes, I do feel a bit better after hearing that.” Inko wipes away a tear, before smiling at her sleeping son from the window, whispering, “Izuku, you finally have it. You finally have your _chance..._!”

Recovery Girl pats her on the shoulder comfortingly.

For what feels like half an hour, it’s just like that. Quiet sobs and murmuring coming from Inko, with Recovery Girl sitting companionably beside her. The professional Hero and Healer doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t press – she just lets Inko do everything on her own terms, waiting patiently for her to recover.

When Inko finally does recover, Recovery Girl nods at a couple of watchers hiding behind a corner. A signal that it was alright to continue.

“We have something else to discuss.”

Inko is just wiping away the last of her tears when she hears the now-familiar voice of Tsukauchi. Remembering just how she treated the officer earlier, when the man had been nothing but helpful and cordial, with much of her bitterness now assuaged Inko rises up to her feet to stand before the man.

Then she bows deeply in apology. “I’m so sorry, Tsukauchi-keiji!”

Despite her earlier rudeness, once more Tsukauchi only smiles at her forgivingly, “Really, Midoriya-san. You don’t have to. I do understand how it feels like, being a parent, so I didn’t mind you lashing out at me earlier. What is important to me is that you’ve finally seen your son and if you feel better.”

Inko wants to say more at that, because really it is Inko’s fault for saying those words to this man when it was hardly his fault, just the circumstances working against them, but then seeing the man’s face, Inko closes her mouth and accepts that at this point, trying to put herself down wouldn’t help anyone, much less Izuku.

So she only nods, “I _do_ feel better, though I would prefer it if Izuku wakes up sooner than later.”

“Don’t we all?” Another man speaks, and this time, Inko notices Tsukauchi’s new company. A thin and gaunt man, for a moment Inko thinks that perhaps this person before her is another patient of the hospital, but then she realizes that this person would be wearing hospital clothes if that was the case. So who was this man? “Ah, I can see your confusion, I apologize for not introducing myself sooner. Tsukauchi-kun?”

Tsukauchi nods once with a smile, “The cameras for this hallway have been turned off, and save for you, me, Recovery Girl, and Midoriya-san here we have this place on lockdown with no one that could enter.”

Inko’s eyes go wide at that particular statement, turning to the detective, “Tsukauchi-keiji, what-?”

Inko’s world is ripped from under her feet when the thin man then says:

“Hello, Midoriya-san, my name is Yagi Toshinori, and you probably know me better as All Might.”

#-#-#-#

Inko is still in much of the same state of shock hours later, when Toshinori-san – _All Might_ – has left her with Tsukauchi-san in tow, the two men discussing beneath their breaths as they leave, the trust between the Hero and police officer clear even as they go.

And it’s that same trust, she knows, that was just offered to her by the two, no, by the three including Recovery Girl by telling her everything she knew now. About the Symbol of Peace, about All Might’s injury and how her Izuku had somehow healed it, about _One for All_ and how it was a Quirk that _could be passed down_ , and that her Izuku was going to be that _successor._

When the day began, Inko really never thought that events would quickly lead up to this situation. It is almost like her son’s life has suddenly turned into that of a story, with all of these good news and bad news and _oh gods, her son was finally going to be a Hero, but for that he was going to have a lot of enemies-_

“Inko-san, please calm down. You’re starting to hyperventilate.”

Recovery Girl starts rubbing circles on her back, and Inko just sobs, “S-Sorry, Recovery Girl. I’m still. Shocked. A small part of me is just rejoicing over everything good that has happened in the past few hours, but the rest. The rest is just _wishing_ that this is all a bad dream.”

“I have to apologize, but this isn’t just a dream, Inko-san.”

Inko whimpers for a moment at that, before Recovery Girl then asks, “Is it really that bad?”

Inko turns to the healer in confusion. “What?”

“Is it really that bad, to suddenly find out about all of this for your son.” Recovery Girl clarifies, and just like that, Inko _understands._ “Because if it’s really that bad for you, if you really don’t want this for your son, I’m pretty sure All Might would take your opinion into account. He might want to take your son on as his successor, but with his better condition, I believe he’ll be open to looking for someone else-“

Inko shakes her head, yelling loudly, “No!”

Recovery Girl stares at her, surprised, “No?”

“No.” Inko repeats, nodding sadly. “As much as I appreciate you and All Might taking my opinion into account, the thing is, in the end I’m not the one who should be making the choices for my son. It’s Izuku who should be the one making his choices, and I _know_ my Izuku.”

Inko turns to look at her son.

“He wouldn’t hesitate in saying yes to All Might’s offer, no matter what I might say.”

And that was that.

#-#-#-#

“M-Mom...?”  
  
When Inko hears her son speak in a soft and rough voice, for a moment Inko thinks she is dreaming before she feels a hand tap over her shoulder. At that, she shoots up from how she was resting her head over her crossed arms on Izuku’s bed.  
  
Her son pulls away his hand at her sudden reaction, but Inko doesn’t care, not after she sees him smile weakly at her. Forgetting that her son in a hospital bed, Inko throws herself at her son.  
  
“Izukuuuuuuuuu!”  
  
Cue the waterworks. Inko’s son tries to comfort her softly as she starts to cry into his hospital gown, and as weak as the circles he starts to rub at her back feels, Inko just takes it all in, tries to remember this moment because minutes ago, hours ago, Izuku had been as unresponsive as a corpse.  
  
“Izuku, you drive me crazy sometimes young man, why did you jump into a hostage situation instead of turning around and leaving it to the heroes, why did you make me have to find it out through the _news_ -”  
  
Izuku laughs feebly at her remonstrations, “Mom, Mom, calm down...”  
  
“And you finally got your Quirk, flames just like your father’s-”  
  
Inko stops right there in her muttering, because in that moment, Izuku suddenly stiffens, his arms becoming heavy like lead around her shoulders.  
  
“...Izuku?”  
  
Her son’s voice is low and weary in her arms, his chin laid over her neck as Izuku looks down, “R-Right, I f-finally got my Quirk, right?”  
  
Inko pulls away at that, wanting to see her son better. As soon as she sees his face, Inko is hit by a sudden incongruity – always, Inko had thought, that her Izuku would be overjoyed to find out that he finally had a Quirk. Always, because Inko knew her son wanted to be a Hero.  
  
And while the way he might have gotten it was traumatic – for both him and Inko – why is it, that in this moment, Izuku looks like he wants nothing more than to turn back time?  
  
He almost looks like he’s grieving, Inko thinks worriedly to herself as she watches her son stay silent in front of her, staring at his hands like there was something that used to be there but was now gone.  
  
But what is he grieving for?  
  
Inko opens her mouth, perhaps to ask her son as to what has him so crestfallen, but then the door to the room behind her opens, causing both her and Izuku to turn to the people who’ve just arrived.  
  
“All Might...” Izuku murmurs with wide eyes, and Inko turns in shock at her son, because while it is indeed All Might before them with Recovery Girl, it is in his emaciated form and not as the all-powerful Hero the public knew.  
  
“Izuku, you know?”  
  
Izuku snaps back to her in turn.  
  
“Mom, you know too!?”  
  
All Might is the one to answer for her son, a hand raised in apology, “Aaaah, that is my fault, Midoriya-san. I forgot to mention this to you earlier, but yes, your son discovered this particular secret of mine before today’s incident. By the time that I remembered to tell you, Recovery Girl told me that you already had a lot on your plate.”  
  
Recovery Girl snorts beside the #1 Hero, “That’s right, you big oaf. Hero, you may be, but really at some point you should pick up some social skills and tact.”  
  
It is truly strange to see such a skeleton of man break out into sweat, especially with the knowledge of said man being none other than All Might. “Now, now, Chiyo, you exaggerate the issue...”  
  
“ _Exaggerate_? Look, Toshinori, if it weren’t for the fact that you pull a disappearing act on your reporters every time you go out to exacerbate your condition with your heroic antics, the whole world would’ve already figured out that their greatest hero is nothing but an awkward fool.”  
  
“Now you’re just starting to sound like Eraserhead does every time I work with him...”  
  
Tsukauchi-keiji takes that moment to also enter the room, commenting loudly, “Maybe I should be giving Eraserhead more due respect if that’s the case, All Might, even if he is just as bad as you when it comes to paperwork...”  
  
“Really, Tsukauchi-kun, that’s the first thing you say here? Must you and Chiyo gang up on me like this?”  
  
Inko hears a giggle, and with a shock, she realizes who it is coming from. She snaps her gaze back to her Izuku, who is starting to break out into outright laughter now. And as she catches the two Heroes and detective smile subtly in her peripheral vision, another realization hits her:  
  
They are doing this on purpose.  
  
For her son, All Might had essentially pulled off a three-man manzai act, with himself as the butt of the joke. Perhaps, upon seeing the same look of grief, same expression of pure loss from out of the window, the three of them decided to step in just to give her Izuku a smile.  
  
Without knowing it, her lips form a smile of her own, weak and almost accompanied by tears it may be.  
  
Really, they make the concept of Hero proud. No wonder Izuku respects Heroes so much, if this is what a Hero truly is.  
  
When Izuku finally starts to calm down, actually having to wipe away some tears, her son looks much happier, though a few echoes of the grief earlier still remain. Nodding at his visitors, Inko can only feel pride at the way her son seems to have grown in an instant.  
  
“All Might,” the number one Hero nods back, “Recovery Girl,” the healer smiles in return, “Aaaand, I’m sorry, I only know of Heroes, mister...”  
  
“Tsukauchi Naomasa, police detective.” Tsukauchi-keiji takes his hat off his head and places it over his chest with a bow. “It is good to finally see you awake, Midoriya-kun. Do you remember everything that has brought you here? Because I’m afraid I’m going to have to take your testimony on the matter.”  
  
His voice is nothing but understanding, with an implied message of I can come back any time, if you don’t feel up to this now, but then Izuku smiles back at the detective, if a little tiredly.  
  
“Y-Yeah. I can remember everything. About Kacchan, about the hostage situation, about Muddy and how I g-got my Quirk.”  
  
Tsukauchi’s eyes widen a bit, which probably said a lot in itself, given what Inko knew of how people often blocked out traumatic events. How many people could manage the same as her son, Inko thought, if an actual police detective treated this like it was a startling, if very well-received, surprise?  
  
“Really? Then would you mind giving your statement now?”  
  
“I-I don’t mind.”  
  
And just like that, before Inko’s very eyes, Izuku starts to recount the events earlier that day. And while it is terrifying, to hear her son describe the events that until now she had only heard from secondary sources, to see the other adults in the room give her son his due respect and to hang on to his every word like he mattered, and not just because of his new Quirk...  
  
Inko can’t say that she is entirely happy with how things are leading up to.  
  
From the Heroes’ warnings, the future for her son would only become more complicated, and that is without adding into it the entire issue of her Izuku possibly becoming All Might’s successor. People, regardless of any heroic or villainous alignment, would be after her son. Combine that to the inexplicable air of understated grief that surrounds her Izuku even now?  
  
No, Inko is not entirely happy.  
  
But then, looking at Recovery Girl, looking at Tsukauchi-keiji, looking at All Might... Today has been nothing but a far cry from how her son had been previously treated by everyone around him, and while that in itself is a source of bitterness for Inko, maybe perhaps, Inko could let herself finally have hope?  
  
_Maybe... I can have hope. Have hope for myself, have hope for my son._  
  
If Izuku notices how Inko quietly wraps his hands with hers, he doesn’t bring attention to it, continuing to tell his story in a low and even tone.  
  
_And if there’s one thing I know, it’ll be the fact that no matter what, I’ll be here for him. Always._  
  
And in the end, that is all that truly matters.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Yeah, I haven’t abandoned this fic yet.
> 
> Okay, for the guys from Juxtapose, you know how I said I wouldn’t be writing last week?
> 
> Yeah, apparently, because I couldn’t help myself I ended up writing anyway. There really is something about doing the forbidden that is inspiring, haha. But I could hardly update for Juxtapose because I said I wouldn’t update then, and I can’t promise that this would be a _thing_ , so… I wrote anyway, but instead, wrote up for this.
> 
> And a crack fic. *coughs awkwardly*
> 
> So welcome everyone, for this week’s Surprise Triple Mega Update! Three fics; three updates. Enjoy it while it’s still here, because this is _definitely_ not going to be something that would happen monthly.
> 
> Leave kudos and reviews, and if they’re your cup of tea, try reading Juxtapose and Togata Mirio, The Greatest Threat after this!
> 
>  


	4. Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shouto meets Midoriya Izuku for the first time. Chapter dedicated to Review Fiction at FFnet for giving me back my inspiration for writing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Sorry about such a late update, almost two months is it now from the last time I've posted anything? But yeah, I'm back. Explanations are at the AN at the bottom, but for now, onwards with the story. You guys have been requesting this for a while now, so here you go!

**Chapter 4: Fire**

Shouto had always been the ice to his Father’s fire ever since the incident that took his mother away from him. There is no exception – he is the stoicism to Endeavor’s anger, the calm and collected against his Father’s raging tempers. This he does mostly on purpose; though it might be true that in the beginning he had started repressing his emotions just to cope to his Father’s abuse, as he grew older Shouto had seen to it to be as different from his father as much as possible.

Hence, the massive difference between their attitudes to their soon-to-be visitors.

“Shouto, I shall only repeat this one last time. You should make nothing but the best of impressions on this Midoriya Izuku once he arrives. I’ll handle All Might – your job is to convince that boy to leave All Might’s side and become my apprentice like you have.”

Good to know Endeavor considered him as an apprentice more than a son. At least that way, Shouto could deny ever being related by blood to this man in front of him.

Still- “Why are you even so insistent on getting him as a sidekick, Endeavor?” Shouto asks bluntly, not even trying to hide his disdain. “And here I thought I was your ‘masterpiece’.”

“Quit that lip with me, Shouto. Don’t think that I would hesitate giving you one last training session before they arrive,” Endeavor narrows his eyes at Shouto, though Shouto at this point is unaffected by his Father’s threats. Shouto’s strength had gone past a long time ago from when he had been weak enough to let this man harm him. “And as for why, it’s simple – I could care less about that kid’s development as much as the idea that _All Might_ would get someone with a Quirk so similar to mine as a student. Your role is to realize my ambition, but _him?_

“He’ll be an insult to my name as the Flame Hero if somebody else gets that kind of Quirk to themselves.”

So it wasn’t even about Midoriya Izuku’s Quirk as much as the idea that All Might would get to teach him how to use it? Honestly, Shouto should have expected this kind of thing from his Father, and what determination Shouto already had to disobey his Father only intensified at that.

Good first impression? Hardly. Shouto has nothing against Midoriya Izuku, but there was no way Shouto would be playing into the hands of Endeavor. In fact, Midoriya would probably even thank him, when the time comes. After all, Midoriya would get to avoid Endeavor’s ‘tender teachings’.

“Understood.”

Shouto says that, causing Endeavor to nod slightly in approval, but as his Father then turns away, Shouto lets himself have a little smirk. After all, he hadn’t even lied. He did understand what his Father was telling him to do.

But Shouto never promised that he would actually heed him.

#-#-#-#

When All Might and Midoriya Izuku finally arrives at the Todoroki residence, the air between the members of said residence is reasonably tense.

After all, this is the first time the target of Endeavor’s envy and rage actually visited the building.

The reason for that was simple: Endeavor had refused to let All Might get a peek at his supposed ‘masterpiece’ before he deemed Shouto ready for Yuuei. After all, the more advantages Shouto had, the more he could defeat All Might and take his place. The degrees Endeavor had gone to keep that in place had even been so strict that ever since Shouto was born only six other Professional Heroes had entered the house, and none of them managed to even get a glimpse of him while he was training.

As far as Shouto is concerned though? That had been an absolutely meaningless move in Endeavor’s part. After all, why bother to hide his skills when Shouto would end up showing them on live television during his first Sports Festival anyway?

Still, the oddness of the situation was enough to make Fuyumi, the only other member of the house at this point save Endeavor and Shouto, anxious, and in turn, her anxiety was making Shouto tense.

Part of what Shouto loves about his sister is her kindness and empathy. After all, it was those qualities of hers led Fuyumi to stay in this house as Shouto’s company after everyone else abandoned Shouto to his Father, but it’s those same qualities that Shouto wishes his sister didn’t have during times like this where she shouldn’t even have had to involve herself in.

Or at least, Fuyumi shouldn’t have let the house helpers – all of them equally aware of Endeavor’s attitudes and threatened to keep silent about it – take this as a day off just so they could avoid being in the firing line. Now, Fuyumi, being the only other person in the house, had to be the one to play host while Endeavor forced Shouto to interact with Midoriya Izuku.

As soon as he gets the chance, Shouto approaches his sister, away from Endeavor’s attention.

“Fuyumi, if you really want to go, you know you could always leave.”

_I can handle Endeavor now,_ goes unsaid, Shouto not even daring to say it aloud just in case Endeavor could be eavesdropping on them, but in response to his words, Fuyumi’s eyes only sharpen as she shakes her head.

“No, Shouto. You’re my little brother; I won’t leave you behind in all this.”

_But it’s that same resolution of yours why Endeavor manages to use you so much,_ Shouto wants to say, but at that point they’ve already ran out of time.

Their doorbell rings, and Endeavor yells, “Shouto, Fuyumi, they’re here! Get ready to welcome them!”

Shouto grits his teeth as Fuyumi pulls away to run towards their front porch, forcing Shouto to also follow just in case Endeavor might punish Fuyumi for his being late. After all, their Father was that kind of man who, after Shouto had learned to ignore physical punishments, had wisened up to using more indirect ways of controlling him.

When Shouto reaches the front porch, that’s when he gets his first impression of Midoriya Izuku, and in a lesser way, All Might.

For All Might, it’s all because of how Shouto never really interacted to the man prior to this, for all of his unintended involvement in Shouto’s suffering. True, Shouto admires the man for his heroism, always had ever since he was a kid, but he never really had the chance to know the man behind the Symbol of Peace.

As for Midoriya Izuku? In a word, Shouto feels... underwhelmed.

Dark green hair, with eyes that shared the same color and freckles that bloomed across his cheeks – when Shouto had heard about Midoriya Izuku, it had been through Endeavor’s reaction to how he was publicized while Shouto never got the chance to see the relevant news articles.

After all, by that time, Endeavor had forced Shouto into more training just so he could supposedly match up to the amount of flames Midoriya had made the first time he used his Quirk.

Shouto had been expecting someone more intense, with a strong presence that filled the room – not a kid who not only looked younger than Shouto, but also with a spine that was permanently curved forwards as though he was trying to hide from Shouto’s gaze.

No, he _is_ trying to avoid Shouto’s gaze, with how Midoriya just looked away from him the moment he saw Shouto’s face.

“Welcome to my abode, All Might.” Endeavor bites those words out, like he never wanted to ever utter them, or at least in that order. “I received your message about this boy’s Quirk yesterday.”

Shouto watches as the Symbol of Peace bashfully puts a hand behind his head. “Ah, I hope you didn’t mind me sending it ahead on such short notice. It’s just that an incident happened recently, and I thought that for Midoriya-kun here’s safety I should ask you for help, so I’m-”

Endeavor has already turned away from their guests, not caring at all at the disrespect he showed in doing so, “We can talk about that later, once we’re in the waiting room. Shouto, Fuyumi, introduce yourselves. Fuyumi, once you’re done, prepare us some tea.”

As Endeavor moves to leave, Shouto rolls his eyes at the man. With how Endeavor was already shooting himself in the foot, Shouto probably wouldn’t even have to do very much to leave an ‘impression’ on Midoriya Izuku.

Fuyumi, ever the polite one – and in fact, the _only_ person with manners in the house – goes first, bowing at both All Might and Midoriya Izuku. “I apologize for my father. My name is Todoroki Fuyumi, and it is a pleasure to meet you. And as for him,” Shouto finds a hand pressing on his back, making him bow as well, “This is my brother, Todoroki Shouto. Welcome to our home.”

A little annoyed, Shouto growls out “Welcome” but neither of their visitors takes heed of Shouto’s irriation. Instead, All Might just smiles at the two of them, shaking his head humbly, “No need to be so formal, young Todorokis. After all, it’s just me and Midoriya-kun here. Speaking of, Midoriya-kun?”

With a little squeak, the ‘Golden Egg’ bows, “Ah, my name is Midoriya Izuku, I hope you both take care of me!”

In that moment, Shouto already knows two things – first, All Might is _definitely_ not like Endeavor, not at all. While Shouto had, once or twice, considered the possibility of ‘All Might’ being a facade just as much as Endeavor’s heroism had been for the public, if one thing was for certain it would be that All Might was just as kind and humble as he was in live television as he was in person.

As for the second thing?

Shouto has to keep down a smirk from reaching his face.

_Looks like, as far as Endeavor is concerned, it is far too late for him to get Midoriya Izuku as his own student. Not with how he is interacting with All Might._

(A smaller part of Shouto is also taking note of the almost-fatherly relationship between All Might and Midoriya, but- there’s just no way, right? If All Might did have a kid, then there was no way that kid would have been Quirkless for fourteen years. And Midoriya had a Fire Quirk, not a strength enhancement Quirk.

There really was no way that Midoriya Izuku is All Might’s secret child, for all of how what little of Shouto has seen of their interactions is making him envious of Midoriya.)

“Well then, I have prepare that tea. Shouto, could you lead them to the waiting room?”

Shouto nods, and the next moment Fuyumi leaves.

Then, with a nod, he immediately starts walking towards the waiting room without another word. Normally, Shouto would at least dispense with a few more formalities – unpracticed in welcoming others into his home he may be, but Shouto still had been _taught_ manners; it just so happened that he refused to use them most of the time – but as much as Shouto might not want to admit it, Endeavor had it right with how rude he had been earlier with these two.

That is, if Endeavor’s goal had been to put off Midoriya Izuku from being Endeavor’s apprentice, which is Shouto’s.

“A-Ah, Todoroki-shounen! Wait up, please!”

Shouto hears All Might’s voice, as well as two pairs of feet rushing to follow him into the miniature maze that is the Todoroki house, and while one part of Shouto is already apologizing mentally to All Might at his rudeness, another is just absolutely _satisfied_ at a terrible first impression well done.

Now, time to follow it up with something else: “Don’t worry, I’m not going that fast. If you have eyes and feet, you’ll be able to follow me. Now, neither of you have those lacking, am I correct?”

Shouto doesn’t even bother to look at them in the eyes when he says that, and judging from the sudden silence behind him, his words have hit their mark. Once more, Shouto apologizes mentally to All Might for being the target of his rudeness – but no regrets. This is as much as for their sake as it is for Shouto’s.

When the three of them finally arrive at the waiting room, it is still with that awkward stilted air that Shouto had aimed for. Endeavor narrows his eyes when he sees the odd expressions on All Might and Midoriya’s faces, but as far as Shouto is concerned so far he had done a good job of achieving his goals.

Shouto’s goals, that is. Not Endeavor’s.

“Where is Fuyumi?” Endeavor asks, his voice just a little quieter than the usual thunder. “Didn’t I tell her to get us refreshments?”

Before Shouto could open his mouth and point out that _You just told Fuyumi to get the tea, there is no way that she’ll be finished that quickly,_ Fuyumi herself comes out of another corridor with a tray in her hands. Shouto’s eyes widen when he sees that not one, but _three_ different teapots on the tray, combined with a varied assortment of snacks and crackers.

“I’m sorry it took me so long. I had already prepared three different kinds of tea before you arrived, one oolong, second black, and the third just plain green tea, but getting the fresh hot water took a little longer than what I would like. I did bring other snacks though, with more than plenty to spare.”

Shouto already knew from the smell wafting into his nose that Fuyumi really pulled out all the stops today, acquiring nothing but the best tea leaves for their guests. Apparently, having expected both Endeavor and Shouto making a terrible first impression, Fuyumi had decided to make up for it with her own version of hospitality.

(Shouto wanted to facepalm. Couldn’t Fuyumi see that she was falling into Endeavor’s hands with what she was doing!?)

Their guests for a moment look flabbergasted at the ridiculous amount of hospitality set out for them, but as always, Endeavor only nods at Fuyumi’s efforts, saying a quick “Good” before turning to sit seiza on one of the zabuton cushions beside their traditional Japanese table.

Shouto and Fuyumi glance at one another, before Fuyumi sighs just a little bit as she settles the tray down on the table. As she moves to sit in her corner of the room, Shouto manages to give her a quick supportive smile before he also takes his seat beside Endeavor.

Their own manners kicking in, All Might and Midoriya Izuku then also take their seats, All Might opposite of Endeavor while Midoriya sits in front of Shouto, and for a moment there is silence and a fidgeting Midoriya Izuku before All Might manages to open his mouth with a shaky smile.

 “Ah, well... This seems to be a rather traditional home you have here, Endeavor?” All Might glances a moment at Endeavor, then the room, then Shouto, and lastly Fuyumi in turn before he finishes, “It’s all rather... impressive, I must say. Truly, the culture of Japan astounds me at times-“

“Drop your American nonsense already, All Might.” Endeavor interrupts him, sounding dreadfully unpleased. “This is not the public where you are playing for the cameras.”

There is no odder sight than seeing All Might sweat nervously, “Ah yes, you’ve always told me off about that, haha...”

There is another moment of awkward silence, before Midoriya surprises Shouto by speaking up without being prompted to. Midoriya has a strange sharp look in his eyes as he speaks, a stronger curve in his spine when he asks, “Ah, Fuyumi-san – I hope you don’t mind me calling you that, with your father and brother here with us – why are you sitting so far away from us? I mean, why aren’t you sitting with us on the table?”

Indeed, Fuyumi wasn’t sitting with them near the table, instead she was sitting in a corner of the room, without even a pillow to support her legs.

Surprised at the question directed at her and not to the other males in the room, Fuyumi answers, semi-automatically, “Ah, because it isn’t my place to-”

“Yes, it _is_ your place to sit with us. Here, I’ll get you your own cushion,” As Midoriya stands up, moving towards the stack of cushions clearly placed on top of a nearby cabinet, Shouto now _knows_ that he isn’t imagining it when he thought that Midoriya’s eyes looked different.

With how his eyes changed tint from bright green to an almost-Chartreuse green of apples, it is clear to Shouto that something is afoot here – especially with the proud look on All Might.

“This is my home, I say what-” Endeavor starts, but then the other teenager turns at him, his eyes almost glowing yellow-

“Hospitality at home is twofold,” Midoriya speaks, clearly and almost seeming louder for all that it hadn’t changed volume at all, “There is hospitality to one’s guests; there is hospitality to oneself. If you cut your off your own arm to make your guests happy, then you aren’t being a good host. Instead, you are being a fool, and fools don’t make good hosts.”

Well then.

Just how did Shouto miss _this_? And damn it, as much as Shouto has decided to treat Midoriya so badly that he would never want to come back here, why is it that Midoriya is making him want to respect him so much?

Endeavor seems to be just as wordless, so Midoriya is free to get a cushion for Fuyumi to sit on, and in no time flat not only has Midoriya gotten Fuyumi to sit on it with the rest of them – again, one thing to be thankful for, Shouto knew just how much it was a pain to sit seiza without one of those – he has also served them all tea with Fuyumi’s help.

All Might has a smile that is way too proud to be anything but a proud father when he sips at his oolong tea and speaks again, “Midoriya-kun, where did you hear that from? Did Inko-san teach it to you?”

Midoriya tilts his head for a moment, his eyes still glowing slightly, before shaking it, “No. Just something I’ve heard from somewhere. Perhaps an old dream.”

(Was it just Shouto’s imagination, or did Midoriya for a second there look like he was _mourning_?)

Apparently taking the odd answer into stride, All Might then places his hand on top of Izuku’s head, messing with his hair for a bit, “No matter. Those are some real words of wisdom you’ve just said there, young man. I’m glad to have heard of them from you.”

In happens in an instant. One moment, there is Midoriya Izuku, with gleaming eyes and an unforgettable presence, and the next, there is once again Midoriya Izuku, shy and awkward as he is obviously being driven into near-tears by the affectations given to him by the Number One Hero.

That seems to let Endeavor regain his balance, so soon, Shouto’s Father is speaking again, “A-Ah, now then, let’s dispense with the formalities and get on with the real business. Fuyumi-“ Endeavor turns to his daughter, presumably to order her to leave, but then in the corner of Shouto’s vision he sees Midoriya’s eyes sharpen once more, and just like that Endeavor has changed tracks, “...great work with the tea.”

Fuyumi nearly drops her own cup of tea at that, but then Endeavor shakes off the awkwardness, pushing on, “About the missive I’ve received from you, All Might. You were asking about my help with this boy’s Fire Quirk?”

Endeavor pointedly doesn’t look at Midoriya’s way as he asks All Might this, and once more, Shouto is surprised when All Might only laughs and says, “Ah about that, I suppose I might have been a bit misleading. Midoriya-kun, if you would?”

Midoriya has an odd smile on his face as he cups his hands in front of them, and when he opens them, Shouto’s brows raise when bright yellow flames form out of his hands. And it doesn’t stop there – soon, the flames begin to rise, forming distinct shapes, and-

Is that a _chameleon?_

“Midoriya-kun here already has prodigious control over his flames, as we’ve found out earlier.” All Might speaks almost blithely as Midoriya proceeded to create even more shapes out of his flames, the room slowly getting filled by small animals made out of flames.

A lion cub, a kitten, a kangaroo, a hedgehog, a cow, an owl, a dog, a swallow – more and more animals started to fill the room, in a truly astounding display of control over one’s own Quirk, to the degree that Shouto almost found himself envious before he caught the emotion by the tail and _crushed_ it.

_No, I am not going to be like Endeavor and be envious of Midoriya. **Never.**_

(For all that a part of Shouto hates how he spent so many years training under such a hateful man just to get the control he has, he wouldn’t spite Midoriya for having the luck of a much easier Quirk. After all, he has heard the rumors, and what life Midoriya has had before this is certainly as painful as Shouto’s life had been.)

Remembering one of the rumors about Midoriya’s Quirk, Shouto reaches out to touch one of them – the lion cub with the odd hat – and just as he expected, it doesn’t burn his fingertips. Instead, it only feels warm and almost welcoming.

Shouto hears something snap, and with a glance at Endeavor, he realizes that-

_-Ah, that must one of the pillars holding up Endeavor’s temper. Was starting to wonder when it would begin._

Endeavor smacks his fist on top the table, not as loud as it could have been but still making quite the noise, “Why then, would you bring him here? Don’t tell me, you are here just to rub his Quirk all over my face-”

All Might shakes his head nervously at that, “Ah, no, no, no! Just, it’s something of a need-to-know basis, Endeavor. You know how some of these things work, right? Some things are just too risky to discuss through email, not when I could explain it in person with Midoriya-kun here.”

Shouto immediately finds his interest piqued at that. Secrecy? That implied something else, something more important than just a normal Fire Quirk, and considering what they already knew was worth international news?

Could it be, that there really was more to Midoriya’s Quirk than this?

All Might turns to Midoriya, and with a nod, Midoriya then opens his mouth to explain what his Quirk was.

How it was named Phoenix Flames. How it really wasn’t real fire he was making, but instead _life force_ in the shape of fire. Which was why he had so much control over it, why it only burned those he wanted to burn, and how it could even _heal_ wounds.

(With how Endeavor’s teeth was getting grittier with every word, Shouto found his envy quickly being soothed by the sheer schadenfreude that he was getting from his old man’s response.)

“And so, then I’ve considered – what if, I tried putting it in another form _besides_ flames. What if, I tried to _invert_ it, turn the positive into a cold, cold negative, bring it up then down to zero...”

Midoriya’s flames begin to sputter, the animal shapes disappearing as his flames flickered between life and un-life...

“That is to say, a Zero-Point Breakthrough?”

And once more, everyone’s eyes, including All Might’s, begin to widen as the warmth in the room started to get replaced by something cooler, something _colder_ -

-and just like that, within Midoriya’s hands was a small yellow gem of ice.

#-#-#-#

Shouto and Midoriya are in the Todoroki training grounds.

After Midoriya’s demonstration, even Endeavor had to put in his full efforts into seeing Midoriya’s skills develop to the fullest. After all, not only was it likely that Midoriya would master this Zero-Point Breakthrough of his with or without their help, Endeavor was _still_ a Hero for all of his negative points and thus interested in the potential of _unmeltable_ ice in their line of work.

Still, Shouto wouldn’t be forgetting that look on his face when Endeavor had met and summarily failed Midoriya’s challenge him to melt his yellow gem anytime soon.

“You hate your dad, don’t you?”

Shouto stops in the middle of his explanation of how he used his ice side – why Midoriya was interested to hear this, Shouto didn’t know, it wasn’t as though their Quirks worked the same way at all – only to tilt his head, “You’ve noticed?”

Midoriya only nods, still gazing at his own flickering flames – what Shouto was now recognizing to be the sign of Midoriya’s incoming Zero-Point Breakthrough – before speaking again, “You know, once, I’ve heard from someone that there was this... let’s call it a Quirk, that let the inheritors of a certain family line get this almost prophetic ability of intuition. Hyper Intuition. They could walk into a fight and immediately know what to do, where to move, where to hit and how to dodge – all in one.”

That certainly sounded to be rather powerful Quirk to Shouto, but for Midoriya to mention it, “Don’t tell me...” _you have it too?_

To Shouto’s surprise, Midoriya only shakes his head before grinning brightly at him, “No, I don’t have it. I just thought to mention it to you.”

Shouto heaves a sigh. At least, Midoriya wasn’t so absurdly powerful then. Even Shouto had his limits when it comes to acceptance, and what he was finding out today was already way past that.

“But even without that Hyper Intuition, it was clear to me, you know?” Midoriya turns back to his flickering flames, yellow turning into bright gold with how bright the flames were getting, “Your dad... I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Todoroki-kun? Endeavor is a dick.”

Shouto can’t help it. His own focus snaps as a chuckle escapes his throat despite all of his efforts to keep it down. As a result, a small glacier forms in front of him, entirely unshaped and only formed by unbridled power.

“And he seems to be interested in my Flames too, so from that, I guess your own rudeness earlier was an attempt to scare me off?” Midoriya then guesses, jumping the logical hoops correctly and accurately to Shouto’s awe, before Midoriya then shakes his head, “Not that I was planning to be Endeavor’s sidekick anyway. I already promised to be All Might’s successor.”

“So it’s true then?” Shouto asks, trying to not seem too curious. “You’re becoming All Might’s sidekick and following his footsteps?”

Midoriya smiles. “Yeah, I guess you can say that. Now then, can you repeat that for me, Todoroki-kun? What you were saying about how to use your Quirk?”

For a second, Shouto sighs, before repeating, “When I use my Quirk, initially I started using it by imagining the ice I wanted to make, but then I realized that was putting way too much mental power on my visualization process. I could control ice, yes, but it naturally wants to form its own shape. It wants to spread, to bloom into its own.”

Midoriya nods, his flames flickering even faster than before, “But then?”

“But then, I found my solution. Instead of trying to lead my Quirk by the hand, I tried to trust it. To trust that it would do what I want, that it _would_ form the shape I want it to without me telling it what to do.” Shouto remembers the lion cub he saw earlier, and with a slight nudge, he set his Quirk to work, “So instead of visualization, it became _emotion._ Ice is cool and calm, it is trust and keeping a level head. By just keeping that mental state in mind, my Quirk started answering to me more.”

And just like that, within his hands was a duplicate of the same lion cub, this time made out of ice.

“See? Just like that.”

Midoriya nods, closing his eyes for a moment as his flames continued to flicker, faster and faster, brighter and brighter, and then suddenly-

-the flames got snuffed out into nothingness _._

“Todoroki-kun, please take a step back. I want to see how far this would go.”

Shouto only has a moment to do so when Midoriya places his hands on the ground and the next thing he knows, beside his already melting iceberg is another one, this time with a bright yellow tint but just as cold for all it refused to melt beneath the sun.

It’s not even half the size of what Shouto had made by accident, but considering this was Midoriya’s first try and it was all unmeltable?

That said a _lot_ about the other teenager’s talent.

“There. I’m done.” It seems to have taken a lot out of Midoriya though, as Midoriya then falls down on his butt, sweat flowing down his face as his breathing started to become uneven. “Now, aren’t you proud of me, Reb-“

Midoriya freezes mid-sentence at that, as he glances to a direction where nobody was, and though part of Shouto really just wants to question that, like _why_ is Midoriya acting like that, why does he look so sad yet in the same time determined, in the light of Midoriya’s affability in front of Shouto’s own misguided efforts to push him away, Shouto doesn’t ask.

Instead, he offers his hand to Midoriya, “Come on, Midoriya. Get on your feet.”

Midoriya sends him a grateful look before he hooks his hand around Shouto’s. “Thanks, Todoroki-kun.”

For the rest of the day, Shouto would find himself asking himself over and over again what made him say these following words, “Stop that. You called Fuyumi by the name earlier – call me Shouto. I’ll call you Izuku in turn.”

The answer to those self-questions is then what follows:

Izuku grins at him, with this bright smile that makes him feel warm inside like the sun has raised itself in the sky just for him.

“If you say so, Shouto-kun!”

#-#-#-#

When the day ends, Shouto finds himself in a completely different mood compared to how it started.

Not only has he met All Might and Midoriya Izuku for the first time, in the privacy of his own mind, Shouto thinks... that maybe he has found himself a new friend.

Still, goodbyes have to be made, so in front of the Todoroki house, Endeavor stands almost awkwardly in the corner while Izuku shakes Shouto and Fuyumi’s hands.

“Thank you for everything, Shouto-kun, Fuyumi-san, Endeavor.”

All Might smiles proudly at his obvious son-not-actual-son, before turning to them as well, “My own appreciations as well, Shouto-shounen, Fuyumi-kun, Endeavor. Today has truly been a very fruitful day!”

“Oh not at all,” Fuyumi smiles at them, looking also a load lighter than she had been earlier that day. “I enjoyed your stories, All Might. And really, I must thank you for this, Midoriya-kun.”

Fuyumi gestures at her brand-new pair of yellow earrings, made entirely out of unmeltable ice. Were it anybody else wearing them, they would have been painfully cold. But for Fuyumi whose own Ice Quirk let her remain unaffected by the cold?

It was a real gift to be appreciated.

Endeavor grunts at the two guests’ general direction, and just like that, the man leaves.

Rolling his eyes at the man, Shouto then turns to Izuku, “Izuku, see you in Yuuei. You’re signing up for it, right?”

Izuku nods and grins. “Of course. Can’t be a true Hero without heading to Yuuei. After all, it’s All Might’s alma-mater! There is no other way if I want to follow his footsteps!”

Shouto would never admit it, lest it caused Endeavor to take him out of the school out of sheer spite, but yeah, that was also one of the major things that made Shouto consider the school as the best choice.

“Now you exaggerate, Midoriya-kun...”

Fuyumi gets the giggles when she sees All Might blush like a maiden. Shouto himself smiles, but then an errant thought gets into his head, so as Izuku and All Might turn and prepare to leave Shouto finds himself asking one more question.

“Wait!”

Izuku stops, before turning back to him, “Yes, Shouto-kun?”

“About this Hyper Intuition.” All Might and Fuyumi both look confused at that, but by the way Izuku is nodding he knows what Shouto means, “Where did you hear it? From the sounds of it, somebody told you about it, but I don’t remember hearing a Quirk like that before.”

Izuku smiles at him, sadly but surely, “I think I heard it from a dream, from a great man whose name no one would ever know.”

And just like that, it’s over as Izuku leaves. All Might still has a confused look on his face, but soon, he too follows and leaves the Todoroki home.

As for Shouto... “Dreams, huh?”

Fuyumi turns at him curiously. “What was that, Shouto? What were you two talking about?”

“I don’t know.” Shouto answers her with all honesty. Because as far as he could see, Midoriya was indeed telling him the truth when he said that, which made absolutely no sense. But still, from the melancholy yet happy way Midoriya said those words, it apparently was the source of the other teenager’s strength.

Remembering those flames though, so warm and welcoming...

“Perhaps, I’m looking at this the wrong way,” Shouto whispers this to himself, “Maybe, it’s just a matter of finding my own dreams, beyond the shackles Endeavor has put on me.”

Apparently having heard that, Fuyumi pats him on the head once, before giving him a hug. “Good for you, little brother. I’m happy that today happened.”

Letting himself return the affectionate gesture, Shouto answers:

“Yeah, me too, Fuyumi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Imitation truly is the sincerest form of flattery.
> 
> Now why is this quote relevant? The thing is, for the past month I've been in a deep writing slump, after deciding to take a hiatus for my finals. I've been repeatedly trying to write - I even have a oneshot I'm trying to work on, in the same time as trying to write my latest chapter for Juxtapose - only to fail and find myself unable to write anything of real quality. Today though? Today, I was trawling through my old haunt, FFnet, for BnHA fanfics, when I found this curious little thing in the crossover section.
> 
> "Phoenix Hero: Reborn."
> 
> It's a fic, based out of this very fic, and upon reading it I remembered why I started writing fics in the first place. I don't write fics because I like stories - though that is a plus - I write them _because_ I write them for the people who read my stories. And by writing this fic, I've been reminded that yes, there are people waiting for me to update, and it's not just a faceless expectation for me to release chapters - instead, it's all very real people that enjoy what I write, and hopefully, I could inspire.
> 
> Anyways, setting aside my motivations, here's some more plot notes for Renew: the thing is? I've considered how Zero-Point Breakthrough works, and there is nothing that states that only Sun Flames could use it. With Izuku capable of making ice, not only does it open potential avenues for future plot, it also gives me a segway as to why Izuku might approach Shouto for all that Reborn has already trained him in how to use his flames.
> 
> And yes, that's the result of Reborn teaching him ever since he was a kid. Tsuna got a ridiculous amount of control within two years of training, and though Izuku hasn't yet experienced the pressure that Tsuna had to face, that is the result of Reborn training him for an indeterminate amount of time every night in the realms of sleep. But that itself has its own aftereffect on Izuku, as now every time he trains he is reminded of Reborn's absence...
> 
> And while I do scoff at the whole fanon surrounding Harmonization - because really, Flame Discord, Bonds, and stuff like that are all just fanon, and there is no real basis in canon about it - I do subscribe to the idea that Flames have an effect on the personality of their wielders, so the same way Skies are welcoming? Sun Flame users have presence within them that helps themselves and other people grow. And really? The idea of Shouto slowly getting better without being decked in the face is something I'm simply happy to try out.


	5. Explosion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a reunion of childhood friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Did you guys think it would be months before I updated this again? :D

**Chapter 5: Explosion**

Rage and fire is beneath Katsuki’s fingertips, and it is the result of only one person:

Midoriya Izuku.

That _bastard._ To think that Katsuki had been so blind; the signs were all there! Deku’s evasiveness over the past few years after classes, the sudden absence of those nerdy notebooks when Katsuki knew, he _knew_ that Deku hadn’t given up his stupid dream...

How had Katsuki missed this? And how the fuck had Deku pulled wool over everyone’s eyes for so long?

And the gossip-mongering that had started once Katsuki returned to school didn’t help at all with Katsuki’s burning temper. And when people started milling around him like crows coming down on a fresh corpse?

“Hey, Katsuki! I was shocked when I saw the news! To think that Quirkless Deku’s not really-”

“Yeah, how was it like to be in _that?_ I was from several blocks away and I still saw that pillar of fire!”

“Man, you’re lucky you weren’t incinerated-“

Something snaps.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Katsuki roars, causing everyone in the room to jump before they, in turn, realized that it was just Bakugou being Bakugou again and returned to what they were doing before.

As for the unimportant group of nobodies whose names Katsuki never even bothered to remember, as one they made a face of disgust, probably realizing that Katsuki had no intention to talk about what happened the other day.

“Man, you’re such a bore, you know that? If I had been the one in the middle of that, I would’ve happily told everyone about it.”

“Yeah, right? It had been so exciting too, but ugh, I should have realized Bakugou would be Bakugou...”

Fighting off the memories of dirty liquid trying to force itself down his throat, choking and slowly killing him inside bit by bit, Katsuki makes a few warning miniature explosions come out of his hands. “Just leave me alone already, shitheads. I have no patience for all of your collective bullshit.”

And just like that, Katsuki is left alone again to simmer in his anger. This goes on for a while, with Katsuki just progressively getting angrier and angrier before he is snapped out of his thoughts by the afternoon bell, alerting him to the fact that the day had already ended.

He glances at the empty seat behind him.

_Where the fuck are you, Deku?_

#-#-#-#

Two weeks. Two long and damnable _weeks._

And Deku still wasn’t back in the classroom. No, not only that – Katsuki still hadn’t seen any hide nor hair of Deku, even when he had tried to check the Midoriya apartment. Apparently, immediately after the incident, something had prompted the Midoriyas to empty it and move somewhere else, and considering how Katsuki remembered just how both the Bakugou and Midoriya homes were buried in reporters not too long ago?

Katsuki honestly couldn’t blame Inko-baachan for that. Kind she may be, she had always been weak to pressure like fucking Deku. She probably hadn’t been able to handle all of the attention and decided to move both herself and Deku into someplace quiet.

Katsuki’s own mother though? Katsuki could blame _her,_ especially when it was clear to him that his parents still kept contact with the Midoriyas.

“What do you mean with that ‘I know, but I won’t tell you’, you old hag!?”

The old hag Mitsuki only gives him a dry look. “It means that I _won’t_ tell you, Katsuki. In the first place, why do you even want to talk to them? You’ve never been sociable with Inko, and from what I’ve heard, Izuku really deserves to have some time away from you.”

“That’s none of your fucking business, bitch!”

“It is _my fucking business_ , considering that this is Inko, my closest friend since forever, and Izuku who for all accounts could be counted as a godson of mine.” Mitsuki is nothing but serious as she says this, before a tired expression makes its way to her face as she apparently begins to remember all the things the teachers had told her about. “Katsuki, just... why? Why would you do something like that? Did I really raise you so badly that you’ve become like this?”

Katsuki just grits his teeth at that, becoming quiet. For a moment, Mitsuki lets him stay just like that, before she shakes her head and breaks the silence.

“I will pass on a message to them, saying that you want to talk. _However,_ ” Mitsuki raises a finger just as  Katsuki raises his head again, “This means absolutely nothing, as it’ll be entirely their choice if they’ll let you. Inko probably wouldn’t; she was just as horrified as me when she found out about everything. But Izuku’s different and a lot more forgiving, so maybe you’ll get your chance. Just don’t mess it up, brat.”

And just like that, Katsuki was left to only wait.

To wait and endure the slowly increasing attention being placed on him by both his classmates and teachers, their curiosity starting to get better of them as the days passed and the other person involved with the Muddy Incident remained absent.

_Deku, you better come and talk to me soon, you fucking nerd._

The days continue to pass.

#-#-#-#

When Katsuki finally meets Deku again, it’s already been a month since the incident which led to Deku becoming internationally famous. At this point, Katsuki is near-snapping from all of the attention he keeps receiving from everyone – as though _he_ knew where Deku was, that little shit – so when the reunion actually happens, Katsuki thinks that his reaction is completely warranted.

It all begins with Katsuki doing some errands for the homeroom teacher. After all, while Katsuki won’t deny the fact that his own personality is more like a delinquent than a honor student, behavior-wise Katsuki mostly pursued the path of said honor student, if only so that his school record was fit for becoming a hero.

This meant running errands for the teachers from time to time, as well as never skimping off after-class duties whenever it was his turn, but overall Katsuki considered it to be time well-spent. After all, from what he heard, it wasn’t too far off for what sidekicks did for their respective Heroes. Better get into practice now and all that.

However, as Bakugou is about to knock on the door of the faculty room, he tenses when he hears a voice speak an equally familiar nickname.

“...is Kacchan still at class, Sensei?”

“If you mean to avoid him while you’re here, then yes. Your homeroom teacher is keeping him busy, from what I’ve heard.” Katsuki’s anger spikes at that, “So don’t worry about him. You’ll have your transfer process be done in no time flat, I promise.”

Transfer? Deku was getting _transferred?_

Without even daring to talk to him!?

Deku is in the middle of saying “No, not tha-“ when Katsuki _blasts_ the damn door open, but before Katsuki’s leap for the green-haired boy reaches its destination, Katsuki suddenly finds himself plucked by the scruff like a ruffled kitten.

“DEEEEKKUUU- huh!?”

Katsuki flails indignantly at his captor, as well at the direction of a wide-eyed Deku and the school principal, but once he hears the voice of the person behind him the fight leaves him like a discarded shell.

“So, this is how Bakugou Katsuki is like. My, young man, you’re certainly not making a good second impression here.”

Katsuki turns his head slowly towards the one and only Number One Hero. “...All Might?”

His captor only shakes his head at him disapprovingly, “Bakugou-shounen, that was a foolhardy thing you just did now. If I hadn’t recognized you as quickly as I had just now, you might have found yourself embedded three inches deep in that wall over there, young man.”

All Might then sets him back down, Katsuki’s legs feeling weak beneath him when he is once again on his feet. “Come on now, Bakugou-shounen. Apologize to your principal and Midoriya-kun at this instant. Not only have you burst in here with complete disregard for our privacy, you have also destroyed school property. Do you really want to have that kind of mark on your record?”

With the sensation of as though he has been just smacked in the head with a bat, Katsuki turns to both Deku and the principal, and then a little weakly, “...Sorry?”

At that, the school principal recovers his balance, and in an instant, the old man has fixed his tie as he turns to All Might. “All Might? I’ll be at work over at my office now. I believe I have to get these papers processed, if what you have just told me is true.”

Katsuki’s gaze never leaves the principal as he moves to leave the room, and when the door falls apart behind him, All Might places his hand over his face. “Well, that certainly doesn’t bode well. Bakugou-shounen, I’d expect your mother Mitsuki would get another call to her sometime soon.”

All Might _knew_ Katsuki’s mother? By her first name at that?

When Katsuki had broken down that door, he hadn’t expected that he’d find himself in some kind of Twilight Zone where All Might apparently acted as a bodyguard for Deku of all people, with his mother and possibly even his father talking to Professional Heroes behind his back.

Katsuki could have probably just stood there for a long time, just plainly uncomprehending, but then a familiar voice calls him back to reality once more.

“Kacchan.”

Deku. Right.

He had been mad at Deku... right? Yeah, that had been the case, ever since the Incident. But there was another thing too, another thought that is getting away from him in this moment, but no matter what Katsuki did he couldn’t-

He sees a cat made out of golden flames float just above Deku’s shoulder, and just like that, it all comes back with a _slam._

“ _DEK-_ “

Before Katsuki could fully regain the momentum of his anger though, All Might suddenly clears his throat behind him. “Ahem, Bakugou-shounen?”

Right, All Might. Just how had Katsuki forgotten the humongous man’s presence again?

“All Might,” Deku turns to the Symbol of Peace, the very image of calm. It is absolutely against Katsuki’s image of the other teenager, considering this was  _All Might_ , wasn’t Deku an even bigger hero nerd than Katsuki, and just _how_ did he know All Might in the first place!? “Kacchan and I have to talk. In private. Could you, uh...”

Deku meaningfully glances at the doorway the Principal just went through, the door now completely off its hinges, “I think the school might need a little help with replacing that? You could help, and while you, uh, do that, Kacchan and I could just... talk.”

Wait, did Deku just _ask_ All Might to act like a common repairman just so he could talk to Katsuki?

Katsuki couldn’t believe his ears.

All Might, for all that a certain other fire-wielding Hero might have taken the request as a personal insult, only gazes at Deku seriously. “Are you sure, Midoriya-kun?”

Deku nods. “It’s entirely why I wanted to go with you today All Might. I always planned on talking with Kacchan.”

All Might closes his eyes for a moment, and soon he smiles a little proudly, “If you say so.”

Within a minute, All Might too has left the office, all the while carrying the battered door on his shoulders. The image of the man whistling lackadaisically as he leaves is something that Katsuki would never forget.

Once the whistling has reduced to a mere murmur, Deku turns back to Katsuki, a serious look on his face, “Kacchan, here’s not private enough. Let’s go to the roof.”

And with everything that has just happened, Katsuki lets Deku pull him to the direction of the rooftop.

#-#-#-#

When they are finally at the rooftop, that is when Katsuki gets his shit back together.

All Might had essentially caused his mind to crash earlier, with how unexpected his presence had been, but... Yeah, in retrospect, Katsuki should have realized that Deku, the little shit, could have been lucky enough to be considered worth All Might’s time.

Setting aside those flames, that _Quirk,_ with how the incident reached international news it was an acceptable possibility that All Might had been called in to meet Deku.

With that thought in mind, Katsuki manages to fully shake off the little bits of hysteria that had formed in his chest when All Might had first made his presence known, and with Deku locking the rooftop door behind them Katsuki knows that he will get what he has wanted for all this time.

Deku and him are finally alone.

“So... Kacchan.” Deku begins a little awkwardly, his back leaning on the roof’s chain fence. “H-How’s it been going?”

At Deku’s words, at the way that he spoke like he didn’t know just _what_ Katsuki had been going through while he was gone, part of Katsuki just wants to rage. And indeed, that had been Katsuki’s initial response in that office, that had been what Katsuki had imagined this conversation might go everyday while he had been waiting for Deku to come back, but with everything that just happened earlier?

Somehow, while the rage is still there, it isn’t as all-consuming as it had been.

So instead of yelling and interrogating Deku then and there, Katsuki begins with, “Shitty. Just where the hell have you fucking been, Deku?”

He flinches at that, the nerd, “The Professional Heroes took me and my mom in after that... incident, and while there’s more to it than just that, I was... yeah.”

Deku rubs the back of his neck, and Katsuki sighs. Looks like he was the one who needed to be upfront here after all.

“Your Quirk.” Deku straightens at that, “What is it? What is its name?”

Deku takes a deep breath, clearly psyching himself up, before he answers: “Phoenix Flames.”

And just like that, without any further prompting from Katsuki, Deku explains and _explains._ Katsuki had called Deku a nerd for a reason, and right now, it shows because Deku is now detailing dozens and dozens of observations and potential uses for his absurdly powerful Quirk the same way he did for Katsuki’s, and though Katsuki knows that he’ll be rolling all this information around his head later on, right now that isn’t what he’s interested in.

“Deku. Tell me.”

Deku blinks at that, pausing from his unending talking about the healing capabilities of his Quirk – _damnit,_ Deku really hit the jackpot there, didn’t he – only to ask confusedly, “But Kacchan, aren’t I already telling you-”

“You’re telling me bullshit.” Katsuki says bluntly, and before Deku could get any more confused, he continues, “That Quirk of yours, those Flames... you’ve been hiding them, haven’t you? For the longest time, you’ve been training them behind everyone else’s back.”

A gulp, and then Deku is disbelieving, “Kacchan, you actually _think_ I had hid-“

“You can’t tell me bullshit about this Flames of yours being easy to control and have me actually believe it, Deku!” Katsuki raises his voice for the first time since they’ve come up on this rooftop, and Deku winces at his loud voice. “And I know you! Hiding away every afternoon ever since we were kids, picking up all those exercises behind my back, writing notes about Heroes over and over and _pretending_ that you didn’t want to be a Hero anymore-“

Deku’s eyes are wide, “Kacchan, you actually noticed?”

“Of course I fucking noticed, Deku!” Katsuki yells, tightening up his hands into fists. “We’ve known each other since we were _kids_! I know you, and I knew you wouldn’t give up that easily! That’s why you keep driving me so mad, but of course, I hadn’t really thought about that so seriously because I _thought_ you were Quirkless, and now...”

“Now...” Katsuki looks away, “Now, I’ve just found that all that’s a lie, Deku. And that you’re still lying, to me, to everyone who now knows your Quirk... _Everyone._ ”

“Tell me, Deku. Was that day your revenge for everything I did to you? Did you really hide away your Quirk all this time, just to show me up, just to lead to this specific outcome where you are now the protagonist of your own story while I had been your little damsel in distress?”

A moment of silence, and then-

“Kacchan... alright. I’ll tell you the truth.”

Katsuki turns to meet Deku’s gaze once more, and when he sees those eyes, they are _blazing_. A yellow tint has ignited Deku’s usual emerald irises, and now despite it being bright with the light of the afternoon, Deku almost glows with an aura that suddenly suffuses his entire being.

“It’s true that I haven’t told anyone everything about my Quirk, but that’s because it’s all so unbelievable.” Tears actually form in Deku’s eyes, dripping down his cheeks, “Even I sometimes still doubt it, no matter how real it feels to me, so just trust me when I say that the only reason why I still hide some things is because I just can’t find a way to put them in words. There is a secret to my control, yes, but it’s just a secret that is both difficult and painful to tell, and I don’t know where to begin with it.”

“But when it comes to _you,_ Kacchan?” Deku rubs away the moisture from his eyes, and Katsuki takes a step forward, “It was never a lie, you know. I never hated you – all I just wanted was to be your friend, to be accepted as your equal. So please, _please_ trust me when I say that before that day, I couldn’t summon my Flames, that I didn’t hide them from you or anyone just because.”

Deku pleads, “Please, Kacchan, _believe_ me.”

There is another moment of silence, the air amped up with the warmth of Deku’s flames, and when Katsuki is finally about to break it, finally about to decide what he wants to say-

“Ohoho, well, what do we have here? A perfect stage set, with two potential assistants to my show.”

Both Katsuki and Deku swing their head to the side, where a single figure wearing an ostentatious coat stood on the roof fence. The figure swings the cane on his hands to his shoulder, and though Katsuki couldn’t see his face with that mask, amusement practically swirls around the stranger.

“Who are you, and how dare you butt into this?” Katsuki speaks first, his words sharp and cutting.

Deku, on the other hand, has a different reaction, “Kacchan, no- He is-!”

“Oh, how rude of me to not introduce myself. But first, your names,” The stranger snaps his right hand towards Katsuki’s direction, the glove making a clear noise, “Bakugou Katsuki, Quirk: Explosion. Currently famous for being rescued that afternoon during the Muddy Incident. Personality: Coarse and brash, but highly intelligent. Wants to be Number One at all costs.”

His left hand this time, still gloved, at Deku’s, “Next potential assistant. Midoriya Izuku, Quirk: Phoenix Flames. Also famous due to the Muddy Incident, currently deemed to be Person of Highest Interest in both underground and public worlds. And should I say, thank you for providing me with all of that information earlier? I do so hate being impolite, but eavesdropping your conversation earlier told me everything I need to know.”

He then bows, doves inexplicably popping out of nowhere behind his back with a burst of smoke, “But yes, I digress – my own introductions: good afternoon, everyone. I am Mr. Compress, and I’ll be stealing the both of you from this place shortly. I hope you take care of me.”

 _Stealing them,_ wha-

“Kacchan, he’s a Villain! One of them nearly kidnapped me in the past, and after that, we had to move after they almost took away Mom! We have to defend ourselves!”

A large hawk made out Flames flies from Deku towards Mr. Compress, “Fly, Falco!”

Mr. Compress only meets the incoming attack by stretching out his palm, and moments just before it is about to hit him, it then disappears with a loud pop.

A small marble falls to the ground, being all that was left of Deku’s construct.

“My, my, what a warm welcome.” Katsuki and Deku both tense at that, Katsuki finally getting himself into a combat ready pose, “This would clearly be a great performance, I can tell.”

Katsuki answers by lobbing an explosion towards the Villain’s way.

#-#-#-#

As their fight goes underway, Katsuki figures out one thing quickly:

Mr. Compress? Slippery as a fucking eel on butter, combined with the overall sliminess of a fucking molester. Because that is exactly how the Villain is acting like now, easily dodging and avoiding their attacks while throwing back half-baked praises and compliments that makes Katsuki want to take a shower as soon as all of this is done.

“Magnificent, magnificent. Indeed, it’s a pity that you two are both on the side of the Heroes, but we’ll change that soon enough, I believe...”

Katsuki really wanted to punch the man through his stupid mask then and there, but as it was, Katsuki had already been injured in a previous attempt. After all, with how Compress had easily been either avoiding or disappearing their attacks with that Quirk of his, Katsuki had tried to use the distraction one of Deku’s animals had provided to get in a sucker punch-

-only to have a marble thrown at him and have him suddenly finding himself on the other side of one of his own explosions.

It had only been Deku’s Flames that saved him from being captured then and there.

_Damnit, if only I had a way to nail this fucker down!_

“Flame Circus!” Deku yells, and Mr. Compress leaps away once more from a series of hoops that Deku made out of his Flames.

Judging from the clear smugness radiating from the Villain as he jumped through the hoops, Mr. Compress found the attack amusing and not at all that worrying, but then Deku slammed his hands together and Compress found all the hoops converging around him.

“What the-!?”

The hoops had joined together around Compress in a spherical show of fire, and try as the Villain might, he couldn’t escape, not with how it was all rapidly spinning in all directions around Compress.

“I’ve been trying to figure out your Quirk, and I think I’ve figured out its weakness.” Deku says, looking like the image of focus as his hands clamped to one another. “Your Quirk works by letting you compress things that you touch into small marbles, but its weakness is both its short range and the fact that you can’t use it on yourself.”

“Like this, that cage is now hot enough that it’ll burn you even if you use those fire-retardant gloves of yours,” Exactly at that moment, Compress has to pull his hand back from his cage, “And with you trapped within it, you won’t be able to compress it like before to escape. Give up – All Might is with us in this building.”

Mr. Compress’s next words are with grudging respect as the Villain tips his tophat, “I must say, I really shouldn’t have underestimated you like earlier. But aren’t you making a mistake here? I mean, by making that assumption of my abilities...”

Katsuki’s eyes go wide when the man spins into a marble, with a small device clearly spilling out from where the hat had been to catch the falling marble-

 _-_ shooting it straight out of the cage and then over Deku’s head-

“-aren’t you also underestimating me?”

Mr. Compress reforms over Deku, and within an instant, Deku is then trapped into a small marble beneath Compress’s hand.

“Deku!”

The flames disappear, and the device from Compress’s hat falls down to the ground.

Mr. Compress walks up to it, before dusting it off and returning it to his hat. “A magician always has an ace in his hat after all. Looks like you need a better way to capture me than that.”

“Now then,” Mr. Compress turns back to Katsuki, setting back the tophat on his head, “I believe if he’s got one thing right, it’ll be the fact that I’ve wasted too much time around here. With All Might around, I can’t be dallying any further, so if you would please...”

Katsuki is already charging, explosions propelling him towards the Villain, “Give back the fucking nerd!”

Mr. Compress makes an amused noise at the brainless attack, but as he is about to capture Katsuki, a hand taps over his shoulder.

He looks up, and suddenly-

“Hello, I believe you have someone that I care for?”

All was pain _._

#-#-#-#

The entire thing ends almost anticlimactically. Once All Might had knocked out Compress in a single blow, the police suddenly began swarming the school with such efficiency that Katsuki almost forgot how all of this would inevitably end up in the news again with how public it was turning out to be.

(Apparently, after they had called in the police, someone had videotaped most of the battle. Katsuki knows that he is going to regret all of this soon.)

After almost biting off the ear of one of the policemen – really, to try and put a shock blanket on _him_ of all people – the only balm to Katsuki’s soul was that at least Deku had been the one to be victimized by a Villain’s Quirk this time around instead of him. That was one less humiliation off his back, at least.

“So...” Deku turns to him, once All Might – freakin’ _All Might_ – had finished mothering over him with promises of continued mothering by one Midoriya Inko, “Today didn’t exactly end like any of us expected, huh, Kacchan?”

Katsuki closes his eyes for a second, “Earlier, Deku, you mentioned how there was a previous kidnapping attempt on you. And then later, there was another one to Aunt Inko?”

Deku chuckles sheepishly at that, glancing nervously under his shock blanket at the officers around them, “Ah yes, that. Please, keep it secret? All Might and the police had successfully managed to keep it all under wraps too, they would probably get mad at me if they found out somebody else found out, even if it was you...”

While Katsuki might feel a little insulted at that – as though _he_ was going to tell anyone about any secrets – what his thoughts focus on is more on how there _had_ been previous incidents, and how his parents likely knew about it too. Perhaps there were even NDAs involved.

So this is why they never told Katsuki about it, why they didn’t want to let Katsuki talk to Deku? Of course, knowing the old hag, Bakugou Mitsuki probably kept this bit of knowledge away from him just because, but then there was another thing that stuck out to him.

“Earlier, when you spoke to All Might, you mentioned how you _didn’t_ need to be here at school today just to get transferred out.” Transferred out, now that made total sense. If Deku really had this big a target on his back, then leaving him in a public school was out of question. “You mentioned you were only here because you wanted to talk to me.”

Deku perks up at that, “Um, yeah, I heard Kacchan was asking after me from Mom, so I wanted to go today, since All Might was going to be the one to expedite the process and I could only go out with him around. Of course, we still ended up getting attacked, so I don’t know how that’s going to change.”

“Damnit.” Katsuki curses to himself softly at that. This great big _idiot_... “So you mean to tell me it was entirely _my fault_ that this happened?”

Deku blinks for a second before he begins wildly shaking his head, “Ah, of course not, if anything it was _my_ fault for being such a big target-!”

_All I wanted was to be your friend, to be your equal. Please, Kacchan, believe me._

Katsuki really, really wants to laugh, but he can’t. Not now, not ever. Not even with how he has to fight down the urge to both laugh and cry at the same time.

“Deku, you’re a terrible liar.”

Now, Deku is _affronted,_ “Kacchan, I’m not lying! Really, it’s all my fault that we-“

“Not that, you idiot.”

Deku had always been a terrible liar. Katsuki could always see through his lies, and when he said those words earlier, when he said that despite all of Katsuki’s mistreatment and discrimination all he had wanted was to become his friend and equal?

Deku hadn’t lied, nor had he lied about hiding away his Quirk. All he said was the truth.

Well then, Katsuki really had misjudged Deku there, hadn’t he?

“Today I’ve been useless. Weak. Powerless.” Katsuki begins, and Deku shuts up at what was probably not-very-Katsuki of him to say. “Even when that fucking Compress was trying to capture us, I hadn’t been able to do anything. Just like I had been unable to do anything against that Muddy.”

Deku looks both confused and displeased, “Don’t say that, Kacchan. You’ve always been amazing, an inspiration to me and-”

He promptly shuts up with a yelp when Katsuki gives him a headbutt.

“Shut up, Deku, I wasn’t finished,” Katsuki growls at the other teenager for a moment before he continues with his previous speech, “But if I want to be the next Number One, obviously I can’t have that. The Number One Hero never loses to Villains after all. So for that, I need to get stronger, and for that I have to go to Yuuei.”

“And you, Deku?” Katsuki pokes at Deku’s forehead, making the other teenager’s eyes cross as they followed his pointer finger, “Knowing you, you’d probably sign up for Yuuei too. It’s the best of the best of Hero Schools out there, and probably nothing but it would be enough to protect your pansy little ass from all those kidnappers after it.”

Deku seems to know where this is going, “Kacchan, are you...?”

“Get stronger, nerd. If you really want me to accept you as my equal, get stronger, so much stronger like I would be so that even if anybody comes after your little ass all they’ll just get is a good little beating. And when you _do_ get stronger?

“Meet me at Yuuei then. Let’s see if you can really become my friend.”

There are tears now in Deku’s eyes, and soon, the other boy is leaping to wrap his arms around Katsuki, “ _Kacchan!_ ”

“Ack, get off me you nerd! You’ll ruin my uniform with those tears of yours! Get back, get back before I blast you to smithereens!”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Meanwhile, not too far away, All Might smiles proudly at the reconciliation between the two childhood friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Let's see how you guys figure out the general timeline of the chapters so far...
> 
> So, here's the much awaited reunion between Explodokill and Kills-Himself. Ironically enough, this was actually easier for me to write than the Todoroki chapter, mostly because of the lack of Japanese customs that I had to look up for it - damn you Endeavor and your Japanese house - and at this point, I'm _really_ getting well-practiced with writing moments like these.
> 
> I added in a little battle there, because 1) it was in my plans, and 2) so I can get back into the practice of writing battle scenes again, I still can't seem to finish that Iida vs Deku battle in Juxtapose, and if you guys were surprised by how easily Deku lost, remember: while Deku has been trained by Reborn how to control his Flames and a few other things, if there's one thing Deku is lacking, it's actual combat experience.
> 
> The fact that he actually started off the fight here is already an improvement over how he had initially reacted to his first kidnapping attempt. How did he react, you might ask? Spoilers. :D
> 
> But yes, as much as people might think it, Deku is not going to be overpowered in this fic. His 'Quirk' is versatile, yes, far more versatile than it had any right to be and would probably lead to some further questions down the line, but ultimately he's not going to curbstomp everyone the same way Shouto doesn't in canon. Sure, it'll be easier at the beginning, but later on being powerful is just not going to be enough.
> 
> Anyways, with that said and done, please leave behind your comments and kudos! They always inspire me to do great work. T-T


	6. Balm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day in Inko and Izuku's lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter everyone, and if you guys see any errors? Point them out for me so I can fix them. 
> 
> Now, onwards with the story!

**Chapter 6: Balm**

Their new life begins at six am.

Inko smiles as her son rises with the sun, coming down from his upstairs bedroom to eat sunny side-up eggs only to be followed by Toshinori. She laughs when Izuku yawns, still half-asleep and with bits of egg left on his face, but he becomes much more awake once Inko wipes him clean.

“Morning, Izuku.”

Izuku shakes his head for a second, chuckling sheepishly, “Morning, Mom.”

Toshinori-san, on the other hand, takes a little more effect to fully wake up. For all that the man was All Might, the Symbol of Peace and Number One Hero, there was one enemy the man couldn’t ever seem to be able to beat and those were mornings like this.

Inko sets down a cup of coffee for the man – cream and sugar like Toshinori liked it, especially now that his stomach could actually tolerate the heavenly drink – and with his eyes still shut and his head face-down on the dining table, Toshinori for a moment gropes blindly before his hands finally find the mug.

Mug found, Toshinori finally raises his head to tip it into his lips. And once that is done, Toshinori slams his face back on to the table.

Inko giggles at the sight. Setting aside the whole thing how this had happened because they were _targets_ and it was _necessary_ , Inko could think quietly to herself that all of this was almost worth it just to see this very private and vulnerable state of her son’s personal hero.

Very few could ever see All Might this way, and as far as Inko is concerned, she’ll be happy to keep it that way.

“Good morning, Inko-san.” Toshinori finally murmurs, his eyes fluttering open once the caffeine finally kicks in. He then turns to the also-giggling Izuku, his following words resigned, “Am I really that amusing, Midoriya-kun?”

“Izuku, Toshinori-san.” Inko’s son frowns at his personal hero’s formality. “ _Izuku._ ”

“I’m going to be one of your teachers in Yuuei, _Midoriya_ -kun.” Toshinori replies, though with a little smile that he can’t seem to quite hide. “It would be improper if I were to refer to you so informally in public, especially if we want to hide how you would be my successor.”

“Toshinori-san, let Izuku at least have this in private.” Inko pats the man’s shoulder as she hands him the soy sauce for his eggs. “You know just how much he would love it if you were to call him so familiarly. Izuku respects you so much.”

Toshinori glances away from Inko to see Izuku blushing a deep red as he tries to hide his face behind his bacon. With a hearty chuckle, the man shakes his head before he then smiles, “All right, for my number one fan then. _Izuku._ ”

It causes a little panic when that makes Izuku _choke_ on his breakfast, but once that particular stumbling point is cleared, the rest of the morning goes on perfectly and without any problem.

 _If only things could go like this forever,_ Inko thinks as she listens contentedly to her son and Toshinori exchanging quips over the breakfast table.

#-#-#-#

Eight AM, once everyone is fed and nourished, they all prepare to leave the Yagi house.

Inko has needled her way into getting included with the boys’ training, and while Toshinori was initially hesitant to give her exercises to do, Izuku is only happy to support in this particular endeavor of hers.

Part of her thinks it’s because of how she was almost kidnapped herself before they moved in with Toshinori, and that this is her son’s way of helping her learn how to defend herself even without her having Izuku’s Phoenix Flames, but as far as Inko is concerned?

The only important thing is that Inko can maximize her time around her boys, Izuku and Toshinori both. Izuku, because of her previous incapability to help him through what had been an arduous childhood experience – to think that Mitsuki’s son was capable of doing _that_ to her Izuku, Inko is still a little shocked – and Toshinori, because for all he was a grown man, Toshinori was still like a child in quite a few aspects that mattered.

 _Like recklessness for one,_ Inko thinks as she passes her towel to the Symbol of Peace.

“Toshinori-san, do you really need to push yourself that hard?” Izuku asks worriedly from Toshinori as the man makes a few hacking coughs as he tries to fill his lungs with air again. No surprise since Toshinori had, after all, done a five-mile run without the benefits of One For All. “I mean, you’re already so strong...”

“I’m the Symbol of Peace, Mi- _Izuku_ -kun. I shouldn’t have limits, especially now that I’m finally recovering from these old injuries of mine.”

Izuku looks like he wants to say more, but Inko only clears her throat to garner both of their attention. Toshinori raises his head to see Inko with her phone clearly out, and with how the man’s eyes go dreadfully wide, it is quite clear to him what she is doing.

“And with that, it’s recorded.” Inko stops her phone’s video recording, snapping it closed before she then dangles it before Toshinori’s eyes. “Now, you see this Toshinori-san?”

Toshinori nods in complete horror.

“You see, I’ve been getting to know Chiyo-san better these days, and my, did she tell me how frustrated she gets when you exert yourself like this! And now, as I’m not blind, it’s quite clear to me that you’re rather terrified of Recovery Girl when she is like that, so if you don’t want me sending this video to her this instant?”

Inko doesn’t smile. Instead, she _bares_ her teeth. “Stop pushing yourself like this before you dig yourself into your own grave, Toshinori-san.”

Both males in front of her look at her in awe, and when Toshinori looks down with a scolded puppy face and a murmur of “how is it that all of the important women in my life are so _terrifying_ ” Izuku laughs with a tad bit too much amusement for how his mentor is being blackmailed.

_Is this what sadism is like? Because I’m probably not making the best example to my son right now._

Inko thinks that to herself again before she turns around and resumes her own jogging.

On second thought though? She doesn’t regret it one bit.

#-#-#-#

Ten-o’clock.

Once everyone has gone through a quick healing session, courtesy of Izuku’s Phoenix Flames and mainly just to aid muscle growth without everyone feeling aches for the rest of the day, Inko changes out of her workout clothes to her more usual clothing.

Once that is done, she meets Izuku and Toshinori downstairs before they all leave the Yagi house again – and their destination?

A nearby hospital.

“Did Recovery Girl pass on to you the list of patients you’d be working on, Izuku?” Inko turns to her son as he murmurs under his breath at something on his phone. “You’ve been busy with that for a while now...”

Izuku snaps out of his muttering to look up at her. “Ah, not that, Mom. Though I won’t deny that this _might_ be related, I’m not sure really. See?”

Izuku turns the phone to show her what is on the screen, and Inko gasps once she sees pictures of several cars in ruins. “Earlier today, while we were exercising, a Villain with a speed Quirk did some stunts in the middle of a highway near us. Ingenium managed to catch him, but...”

 _Not before there were people who got caught in the crossfire,_ went unsaid.

Izuku’s dejected expression is a point of interest, but Inko knows these two people well enough to know that her son isn’t the first person she should be talking to.

Instead, “Toshinori-san, it’s not your fault.”

The Symbol of Peace looks up from where he had obviously been talking himself down in a downward spiral of guilt and self-blame. “Inko-san, if I had been there-“

“Then things could have ended the same way. Don’t you think it would be a bit presumptuous of you to assume that just because you are there, nobody would ever get hurt? Even you have your limits.” Toshinori looks slapped for a moment, and Inko forges on, “And you were _busy._ You _didn’t know._ ”

“But if I had rushed there as soon as it started happening then-!”

“Then _what_?” Inko continues to challenge, “Remember, we were in the middle of exercising, and _you_ were driving yourself ragged just earlier. Even Izuku’s Flames can’t heal exhaustion you know. You could have just barged in there tired and useless as opposed of being actual help.”

Toshinori goes silent at that, looking scolded, and so that’s when Inko finally turns back to her son.

“Izuku, are you okay?”

Izuku only shakes his head, his gaze not leaving Toshinori’s form, “I’m fine, Mom. Just... a little sad for that all of this actually happened, I guess. Do you think that I’ll be healing some of these crash victims?”

Inko imagines just what kind of injuries might result from a car accident, and soon she has to fight to keep her face from going green.

The injuries she imagined? She would really be happier to have her son never have to see them, but as it was, with all of the time they spent around hospitals these days Inko herself had already been well-introduced to the kind of panic and desperation medical emergencies gave.

If there really were people who needed healing, and only her son, her Izuku with his Phoenix Flames that could even rebuild ruptured organs and fix broken bones, could provide it? She wouldn’t be surprised if the doctors and Recovery Girl were to break hospital regulations just so Izuku could, and Izuku _would_ always take them up on that offer.

She fights to keep a smile on her face, “Let’s just head to the hospital now and see for ourselves, shall we? Let’s see if we’re lucky and nobody really got that hurt.”

When the three of them arrive to the hospital and they find out that the news had apparently over-exaggerated the casualties with how there were only a few people who got hurt, and with only a few gashes and bruises at that?

Inko heaves a sigh of relief, and Toshinori begins to look a little less guilty, though no less contemplative.

_Not today, world. Not today._

#-#-#-#

Ten-thirty.

They arrive at the usual clinic hidden deep within the hospital, and when they get there, it’s to the sight of Recovery Girl quietly talking to a small assembly of patients, most of them covered with a large number of bandages. Behind her, Tsukauchi’s controlled expression – a sign of the man hiding his boredom – changes into a smile once he sees them coming.

“Ah, here you are, Midoriya-kun!” Tsukauchi calls out as he walks up to them, referring to Izuku first as a practiced way of indirectly introducing Inko’s son to his future patients. After Tsukauchi gives Izuku a quick pat on the shoulder, he then turns to Inko and Toshinori, “Inko-san, All Might. Good to see you again, both of you.”

The Midoriya mother and son chorus, “Good morning to you, Tsukauchi-keiji.”

Toshinori politely ignores the attention suddenly being sent his way by the patients, having transformed back to All Might as soon as they entered the hospital. “Good morning to you too, Tsukauchi-kun. So these are the people Midoriya-kun would be healing today?”

“Yeah, and as usual, we’ve made them sign the necessary NDAs.” The detective nods his head, before a small smile makes its way to his face as he then whispers, “I think this batch would be the easiest so far. With all of our previous sessions, Recovery Girl believes that she has streamlined the process for qualifying which patients would respond best to Midoriya-kun’s method of healing.”

Inko tilts her head at that, “Like what?”

“Probably something along the lines of cellular damage and degradation, Mom.” Izuku is the one who answers, his eyes not leaving the patients. “From what I’ve personally experienced, while I can’t help at all when it comes to things like infections or cancers, injuries both new and old is what my Flames work best.”

Hearing the forlorn note in her son’s voice, Inko begins to rub little circles on her Izuku’s back. Izuku really hadn’t handled it well when he found out that little bit about cancer.

“Which is precisely the sort of patients that we have here now.” Recovery Girl inserts herself into the conversation, and that is when Inko knows that the healing session is about to begin. “Come on now, everyone. This is Midoriya Izuku, I believe you’ve all heard of him from the news?”

One of the patients, a man with the upper right half of his face covered in bandages, raises a shaky left hand. Inko’s eyes follow the man’s shoulders, switching from his left to his right, coming down to his right forearm and...

“S-So, is it true? That you can h-heal people? That you can give back my right arm and right eye?”

...she winces at the stump that she sees.

Izuku’s response to the question is a bigger reaction than what she expects. Izuku practically _leaps_ to the injured man’s side, a horrified look on his face as what can only be called _recognition_ seeps into his voice. “You’re One-Two, the Punching Hero! You’ve been missing from the Hero boards for weeks; all of us, your fans, thought for the worst!”

A grim expression flickers its way to the faces of all the Heroes in the room, and Inko pales when she realizes who this man before her is.

A Pro Hero.

A _former_ one, after one Villain attack too many.

One-Two has tears form in his visible eye, the man clearly holding back a sob with the way he bites his lips. “Boy, I’m sorry, but that name’s about to be abandoned now. With these injuries and my h-hand, it’ll be impossible for me to go on.”

The other patients in the room look down at that, and Inko’s horror goes on when she considers one possibility:

_How many of these people are former Pro Heroes? How many of Izuku’s **previous** patients had been those he looked up to?_

For a moment, Izuku is silent, but soon his hands ignite in golden Flames as a look of determination forms in his eyes. The Flames immediately fill the secluded clinic with warmth and light, and as the injured patients gaze at her son in awe, Izuku _speaks._

“No. No. _No._ ” He starts off with a soft voice, only for his words to gain more and more volume with every single syllable that leaves his lips. “I _won’t_ let this be the end, not for all of you. I’ve been given these Flames for one purpose, and that is to stop pain like this from ever happening again, not while I’m around.”

The Flames begin to spread from Izuku, jumping from patient to patient in a continuous flow.

For a moment, One-Two and the rest of the patients flinch at the fire that begins licking at their injuries, but then their eyes begin to grow wide as the effects of Izuku’s Phoenix Flames begin to set in.

“It might itch a lot, but please endure the urge to move.” Recovery Girl’s voice is calm and composed, working as a beacon of guidance to all of the patients. After all, while she _couldn’t_ heal their injuries, not with the severity they had, she still had their trust, and it’s that trust that they need now. “You’ll also feel really tired and hungry shortly, but that’s normal, your bodies are merely consuming the building blocks they need to fix your injuries with Midoriya-kun’s help.”

One-Two, who had closed his eye through most of the process in an effort to keep himself from scratching at his _everything_ , blinks when the warmth stops.

That is, not with just one eye anymore, but with _two_.

He raises a hand at the upper-right corner of his face, at it is only when it pulls away covered with the ashes that used to be his bandages that he realizes, _realizes_ that not only has his vision fully recovered, it _isn’t his left hand that is leaving his face and-!_

“My god, it’s true,” Tears begin to form from his eyes once more, as well as in the eyes of the other patients around him when they are all finally hit by the fact of how they were all _whole._ “My arm, my eye, it’s all back...”

“It’s all back! I can be a Hero again!”

Inko can’t help but cry for them too, when she sees them all rejoice and begin grabbing anyone close enough for a hug, just gaping and screaming in joy at their healed states.

As for All Might, he catches Izuku just in time when the boy sags in exhaustion, having obviously spent all of his energy healing this many in one go. Beside them, Recovery Girl shakes her head – if Izuku had treated them one by one, then he wouldn’t have tired himself out so quickly – but she too can’t hold back the proud smile that is forming on her cheeks.

When the rejoicing begins to subside, that is finally when One-Two notices something odd.

Setting his two arms side to side, it quickly becomes obvious that his newly recovered arm was far, far whiter than his other one. Rubbing his hand across his face also revealed that there was a distinct difference too with the skin there.

Part of his face felt both absurdly smooth and tender, like that of a newborn babe.

“My Flames can reconstruct damage like that from scratch, but skin takes more focus to heal properly and in order. That’s why it looks and feels so different than normal skin.” He turns to see Izuku looking at him, the boy looking apologetic even made him Tsukauchi take a sip from an energy drink. “Think of it like a scar – it’ll probably fade away in time, but it’ll most likely take months or even years before that.”

One-Two only shakes his head, a wide grin forming on his lips, “What are you saying, kiddo, you just freaking gave me back my _life_! If this is going to be something like a scar, it would be something I’ll be happy to bear! That way, when people ask me about it, I can tell them, ‘this was when this boy gave me back my career!’”

“Ah, about that...” Tsukauchi interrupts, causing the man to frown, “Remember the NDAs?”

One-Two looks like he wants to say something against that, but All Might stops the incoming argument before it even starts, “But don’t worry, we’re not holding you all to silence forever. Only up until Midoriya-kun here is a student of Yuuei. That way, those who might target him would only know about this gift of his when he is already on his way to becoming a Hero.”

At that, One-Two turns back to looking at Izuku in both awe and hope. “You’re going to become a Pro Hero too, kid?”

Tired as he was, Izuku manages to nod. “Y-Yeah, One-Two. It’s always been my dream to become one.”

Inko’s heart soars with pride when the Pro Hero before her says, “Consider me in your debt forever kid. Me and my agency – we’ll never forget this good deed that you have done for us. Call for us anytime, and we’ll be there to help. Our connections and networks are yours.

“When you grow up, we’ll help you become a Hero beyond any other, Midoriya Izuku.”

#-#-#-#

Two pm, the day isn’t even close to over, yet Inko’s son is already exhausted. And sadly enough, at this point it has become the norm for Inko – try as they might, none of them could ever talk sense into Izuku about burning himself out.

At least, today isn’t going to be one of those days where an unconscious Izuku would literally have to be dragged out of the hospital.

With Recovery Girl leaving with the now-healed patients, and Tsukauchi sent off to get them all lunch, once more it is only just Inko, her son, and All Might. Once All Might deflates back into Toshinori, both adults turn to the teenager who has a faraway look on his face.

“Izuku?” Inko approaches her son, knowing that this was usually caused by her son’s healing sessions. “What has you so silent?”

It snaps her son out of that trance, even if his expression remains closed-off. “Nothing, Mom.”

“Izuku-kun, don’t be like that.” Toshinori speaks up, and the mere fact the man used his first name seems to startle Inko’s son. “Clearly something is bothering you. You can trust us with that kind of thing, you know that right?”

“R-Right.” Izuku’s eyes are wide, but soon the boy regains his calm, taking a deep breath. “Mom, Toshinori-san... to be a Pro Hero really is dangerous, isn’t it?”

Of course, after having seen one of his personal icons in that kind of state... Inko herself had been shaken when she had made that realization; how bad must had it been for Izuku, to not only see that, but to also see One-Two having given up on everything?

“My boy,” Toshinori starts off hesitantly, “You remember I used to be, right? This shouldn’t be new for you, the risks in our line of work-”

“No, not that. The danger itself – that I’ve already accepted since a long time ago. When we had first met only cemented that fact.” Izuku only shakes his head, prompting surprise in both adults. He has a sad look on his face when he then says, “I was just thinking... about those who are always left behind when this kind of thing happens. How it might happen to those I know, how it might happen to _me._ ”

Toshinori _freezes._

Inko, on the other hand? In that moment, she imagines the world that Izuku is suggesting, that cold and frigid world where she would lose her son to his dreams forever, _permanently-_

_No, don’t hesitate in your support, Inko. Not now, not ever._

_You’ve always known that might happen. It’s only now that somebody has voiced it out._

“All Might, how many people have you known, have you _lost_?” Izuku sounds so forlorn, once again wearing that same mourning expression that Inko keeps seeing him make these days. It is as though her son has _already_ lost someone, yet how could that be the case?

No, this must be just her son’s compassion in display.

“You’ve been a hero for so many years now, longer than I’ve even lived. The idea of living that long without everyone I know still beside me is utter hell. How should I ever handle it?”

Inko keeps quiet at that, knowing that this is not her time. And even if she were to open her mouth, how could she ever answer? She couldn’t even comprehend the idea of losing Izuku, much less the thought of working with so many good people, only to lose them later on like Izuku was suggesting.

So instead, they both wait for Toshinori, _All Might,_ to speak.

When Toshinori finally breaks the silence, it’s with a solemn look. “...I had a mentor of my own once. A strong woman, she had been my personal hero like I am currently yours, and it was her who passed on to me the torch of One for All.”

Both Izuku and Inko’s eyes go wide, because they _didn’t_ know that.

“She... she,” Toshinori struggles with his words for a moment, before forging on, “She had been everything to me. She was the one who guided me to who I am today, taught me these ideals that have led me to becoming the Symbol of Peace...

“She was the mother I never had.”

Inko has her hands over her mouth now, tears in her eyes as she knows, _knows_ where this is heading-

“Not even a few months after she gave me her legacy, she died.” Toshinori is absolutely pale, obviously haunted by the memories even after so long. “She passed on her Quirk to me, and one day I was just studying in Yuuei and the next she was gone. What was left of her had to be buried in a closed casket; that was the extent of what she went through.”

“So yes, I do know how it is to lose people as a Hero. After all, before I was even one, I had lost the closest person in my entire life.”

Izuku tries to speak, “Toshinori-san-”

“And I wish I can tell you how to handle this kind of thing, but I can’t. I _don’t_ know how to,” Toshinori can’t be stopped, can’t be interrupted, “That’s the thing about the Symbol of Peace, you know? You can’t mourn, not anywhere just anybody could see. That invulnerable, unshakeable image only needs one counterexample for it to break, so I’ve never had a chance to confront it properly. Instead, it’s always been conceal, conceal, conceal. Just bury it all down and hope it never comes back up again.”

“So sorry about this, Midoriya-kun. I don’t know how to answer that for you.”

For all that Inko had known Yagi Toshinori, he had always been someone she looked up to.

And it’s not just about his absurd height even in this form of his either. As All Might or not, Toshinori had always been a mentor, not just to Izuku, but to Inko as well. She literally took notes from the man’s ways of handling her son, jokes about him being ‘Izuku’s second dad’ aside.

But now? Now, Toshinori has never looked so much like all he wanted was to just roll up in a small ball somewhere and hide from the rest of the world. Try as Inko might, what Toshinori said about his image was right – after today, Inko thinks she can’t ever see him in the same light as the unstoppable All Might anymore.

Not when there was this flawed and entire _human_ Toshinori in front of her.

Izuku steps forward, and Inko can’t look away. But Toshinori _can,_ as he tries to avoid her son’s eyes.

But when Izuku leaps forward and holds Toshinori closely for a hug, Toshinori looks shocked, before he relaxes when Izuku says, half-sobbing, “All Might, _Toshinori-san,_ you don’t have to. You don’t have to know the answer – we can always figure it out together. And before that?”

Izuku pulls away, a familiar #1 smile on his face even as tears begin forming in his eyes, “I’ll make sure none of us have to. Not anymore. I refuse to ever die before I become a Hero like you, and I’ll make sure none of you ever get hurt. I swear this, on my dying will.”

Those last four words ring in the room, and Inko _knows,_ can taste it in the air that they mean something crucial, something important.

But right now, Inko ignores that in favor of joining the hug. Inko could always talk to her son about it later, when Toshinori didn’t look so distraught, and when Inko herself is in the throes of emotion just from watching her boys.

And when Toshinori lifts his arms around the two of them, completing the set?

A bright yellow aura suffuses around all three of them, like an oath made into flame.

#-#-#-#

Meanwhile, outside their room:

Tsukauchi sighs as he puts an arm over his eyes, though not without trying to hide the smile on his face.  As he leans on the door, Recovery Girl shakes her head affectionately beside the bento boxes the two of them had brought for all three inside the room.

“At this rate, the food will get cold...”

“Midoriya-kun could always heat it up later.” Recovery Girl just brushes off the man’s complaint, before grinning toothily at the perfect sight of Toshinori being unofficially adopted into the Midoriya family. “On a more important note, a picture of them like this might be useful in the future.”

“What do you think is more likely in the near future, Chiyo-san? Toshinori officially becoming Izuku’s dad, or as his much-older foster brother?”

“Depends on whether Inko’s mothering wins against that obvious tension between her and Toshinori.” Because really, Toshinori just triggered that kind of maternal instinct from whoever was taking care of his recklessly heroic self. In that case, it would really be hard for Inko to see him in any kind of romantic light. “What, you want to make a bet about it, Tsukauchi-kun? That’s rather sly for someone like you, Detective.”

Pushing himself upright from the door, Tsukauchi smirks at Recovery Girl.

“That’s only applies when I’m a detective first and foremost, Chiyo-san. Because right now, I’m Toshinori’s _friend_ before I am a police officer, and if I get it just right, maybe I’ll also become an honorary uncle. I’ve always wanted to have a nephew that I could introduce to Kensei anyways.”

A silence, and then: “...2000 yen on Inko adopting Toshinori as her son. And Nedzu would probably want to hear about this too.”

“Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: You hear that? That’s me whispering _“Toshiiinkooooo”_ in the background for this chapter. Let’s say that, unlike in Juxtapose, there won’t be anything stopping me from shipping them to hell and back in this fic.
> 
> And on to the actual meat of this chapter: honestly? I just planned for this chapter to be a fluff chapter. A normal day in Izuku and Inko’s new lives, filled with WAFFy scenes between them and Dad Might, but then this happened.
> 
> Me: “I’m going to write them exercising together!”  
> Also Me: _writes them talking about car accidents and casualties_
> 
> Me: “I’m going to write Izuku healing people!”  
> Also Me: _involves lost limbs, eyes, and almost-retired heroes_
> 
> Me: “I’m going to write a cooldown from that earlier sudden angst, have them eat yakiniku!”  
> Also Me: _suddenly dangers of being a Hero, oblique reference to Reborn, and direct reference to Nana_
> 
> ...yep, I’m terrible at writing fluff. Or at the very least, I can’t hold back the _feels_. Oh well, in the words of Bob Ross: “There are no mistakes. Only happy accidents.” Only in this case, things aren’t as happy as they are angsty, and the accidents are lost limbs. :D
> 
> Anyway, I’ll be updating this fic again next week, one last chapter before I return to focusing on Juxtapose, and for that it’s going to include battle scenes again. I hope you guys look forward to it!


	7. Ignite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is an attack, and some foreshadowing.

**Chapter 7: Ignite**

Izuku has a bad feeling about today.

It all begins when All Might declares that the subject of their class that day to be Apprehension – that is to say, villain apprehension. With how the idea of ‘sending villains to jail’ was deeply rooted within the public image of Heroes, really there was no surprise to Izuku that at some point this was going to happen, even if the ‘villains’ in question here would be their own classmates.

He didn’t have this same feeling in his gut during All Might’s previous classes – and those had been eventful on their own – so what was so different now?

“You look constipated.”

At that absolutely blunt remark coming from his friend, Izuku snaps out of his brooding to trip over his feet. Thankfully, an arm catches him on time, and so once Todoroki saves him from the misfortune he had almost caused, Izuku pulls away with just a bit of damage to his ego.

“Shouto-kun, don’t begin a conversation with something like that, seriously.” Izuku’s face feels warm from all the embarrassment, which only gets worse when Shouto tilts his head in confusion. “I get that you’re not used to talking to people, but, uh. Yeah. Just don’t.”

Shouto nods his head so seriously that Izuku has to sigh. Really, why was it that most of Izuku’s friends were so socially awkward? Not that Izuku was particularly good at the whole talking thing himself...

As Izuku is contemplating on the matters of his own social misdemeanors, Shouto speaks again, “Well, back to earlier. What was on your mind that had you so distracted?”

Izuku doesn’t really have much reason to keep quiet about his apprehension, so, “I just have a bad feeling about today. Like something terrible is going to happen on this trip.”

Shouto glances away, to look at the bus that the rest of their classmates are already getting on, “Really? But we’re still keeping to Yuuei’s territory, aren’t we? How could something bad happen, when we’re so surrounded by heroes?”

“Exactly why I’m so confused about it.” Izuku looks down, before a thought pops into his head, “Wait, Shouto-kun, why are you taking my gut feelings so seriously?”

Shouto gives him a dry look. “Since when haven’t you been right about these things, Izuku?”

Izuku chuckles sheepishly at the unspoken accusation. Even all this time, after their first meeting, Shouto still doubted what Izuku said about not having Hyper Intuition. “Haha, Shouto-kun, there’s no way someone like me can have more than one Quirk, right?”

Funnily enough, even if Izuku is to count One for All once All Might passes it on to him, Izuku wouldn’t be lying if he said that he didn’t have _two_ Quirks.

After all, Phoenix Flames – _Dying Will Flames of the Sun_ – wasn’t really a Quirk.

“I don’t know, you tell me.” Shouto remains unconvinced for a moment, before his face softens, “But really, if you have really do feel uneasy, I suggest you mention it to All Might or Aizawa-sensei. You know that the both of them would take you seriously, even if they don’t cancel this field trip outright.”

“But...”

 _Everyone else looks so excited,_ Izuku wants to say as he turns to looks their classmates. Kacchan, of course, flips him the bird once he feels Izuku’s gaze on him, but Kirishima gives him a friendly wave so it sort of evens out. Tenya on the other hand studies him all the way from where he is leading the rest of the class into the bus, but the strict boy only gives him a nod before returning back to his job.

Even Shinsou-kun looks just a bit excited, and considering how the other boy often complained of insomnia, that said a lot. And beside him, Uraraka is of course as bright as the sun, sending him a large grin when she notices Izuku looking at her.

“I don’t want to ruin this...”

Shouto pats him on the shoulder. “Izuku, ultimately, it’s your choice. Personally, I’d trust those gut feelings of yours, but the question is: do you?”

And with that, it only takes a moment for Izuku to decide on what to do.

#-#-#-#

After a bit of harmless teasing on the bus, some directed and some _from_ Izuku, they finally arrive at their destination.

With a little bit of nudging from All Might, Class 1-A begins filing out of their vehicle. Eraserhead leaves the bus the last – the man obviously wishing he could be anywhere else than with them – and once more as Izuku marvels at the artificial city around him he wonders as to how Yuuei managed to find its funds to make so many of these fake cities.

“Deku-kun, are you excited?” Uraraka jumps in beside him, causing him to yelp. “Oh, sorry about surprising you! But yeah, after how our previous class activity ended, don’t you feel pumped up about this one?!”

Recalling the fiasco said class activity had been, Izuku laughs nervously, “Uh, yeah, Uraraka-san. Excited.”

Izuku really could see how Uraraka saw it that way, really. But for Izuku, it had taken a lot of effort just to get Kacchan talking to him again without yelling or growling after everything that had happened. Even _Shouto_ had given Izuku the cold shoulder, pardon the pun.

“Now then, everyone form a semi-circle around us me and All Might.” Eraserhead calls, unintentionally rescuing Izuku from further awkwardness. “We have another teacher to help us with today, so you brats make a good impression.” _Or else,_ goes unsaid.

Izuku never seen everyone line up so quickly before. Tenya-kun didn’t even have to raise his voice.

With all of the rushing and trying to keep himself afloat from the stampede that his classmates had become, Izuku doesn’t realize who exactly is the teacher Eraserhead is referring to until it is too late and Izuku is standing before a painfully familiar figure.

_It wasn’t the same kind of hat, **his** was a fedora and this is brown instead of black, and Izuku had never seen **him** with more than one gun like this person does, but for a moment the similarities hit him, and it hits him **hard**._

Izuku only realizes that he is hyperventilating when All Might – _Toshinori-san_ \- is standing in front of him, hands on his face and keeping him standing even as his legs turned weak and incapable of supporting Izuku.

In the same time, the newcomer’s entire body language screams of shock, clear to see even with that gasmask and Izuku knows, _knows_ that this person isn’t **Reborn** , but his heart is beating way too fast now and the grief is hitting him all over again, just as fresh as it had been that day.

“Midoriya-kun, Midoriya-kun, Mi- _Izuku snap out of it!”_

Toshinori-san’s voice brings him back to reality, and that is when Izuku finally sees that his friends are surrounding him and Toshinori-san both. Shouto’s eyes are wide, Kacchan looks angry, Tenya is busy trying to get the others to give him space – but all of them are equally surprised and worried about this sudden turn of events, and honestly Izuku couldn’t blame them.

He too had never thought that he could react this way just from seeing _Snipe._

“Izuku?” Toshinori-san has dropped the professional facade of All Might entirely, acting like the person Izuku knew him to be for all that his appearance still remained to be the Symbol of Peace. “Deep breaths, my boy. Slow down, relax. You’re getting better now, slowly, slowly...”

Every word from Toshinori is like waves of pure relief, seeping through Izuku’s being, and soon his breathing returns to normal.

“I’m okay, I’m okay, All Might.” Izuku says, both to convince his mentor and himself. “I-I’m okay now, I promise.”

His friends are giving him more space now, finally heeding Tenya now that Izuku is beginning to look better, but the concern refuses to leave their faces. As for Toshinori-san, the man is now holding him close, rubbing a few circles on his back before pulling away.

“My boy,” Toshinori, _All Might_ , sounds a little haunted as he speaks, “What has brought this about?”

Izuku only shakes his head at that question, his mouth closed as he tries to stop his lips from trembling.

It is at times like this that Izuku wishes that he could somehow tell people about Reborn, both in a way that wouldn’t have them think that he was crazy while also keeping the pain and grief of losing one of the most important people in his life at bay.

The first part wasn’t even the real problem, really. Izuku knew that Toshinori-san and his mom would take him seriously, hearing him out and letting him say everything he needed to before making any conclusions on his sanity, but every time Izuku had tried to tell them, the feeling of loss would suddenly well up in his throat and keep his mouth shut.

In time he knew, he would be better. Because while time didn’t heal all wounds, it made it easier to deal with the pain, and once Izuku was capable of doing exactly just that he knew he could tell others about Reborn’s story.

Right now though? Judging from how badly he reacted at a physical reminder of how Reborn had looked like?

He wasn’t ready for it. Not at all, especially not in such a public place such as this.

“Izuku, if you need to sit this out, you could, clearly you aren’t in the right state for class-”

Suddenly, an outburst leaves Izuku’s lips, “No!”

Reborn would have his head if Izuku skipped a lesson as important is this, especially since Izuku was like this _because_ of Reborn. Reborn didn’t stand for letting the past hold Izuku back after all.

 _“You’re skipping a class because you miss **me?** Be real, Deku.” _ Izuku could almost imagine Reborn say to him, and somehow the words give him strength, for all that he knows that it is all in his head. _“No student of mine should ever be that pathetic. Stand up from there and join your class. A Hero never shows any weakness.”_

Taking a deep breath, Izuku repeats again this time, much calmer to All Might’s shocked face, “No. Like I said, All Might, I’m alright. I won’t let this won’t stop me from participating with today’s activities.”

His mentor for a moment looks like he wants to argue, but in the end the man just nods, a look that promised that they’ll be talking about this again later on his face before All Might concedes, “Very well, Midoriya-kun. You’ll continue participating with today’s class. But if this happens again, I would send you to Recovery Girl, whether you want it or not.”

“It won’t happen again.” Izuku won’t let it.

“If you say so.”

All Might pulls away from him, letting the rest of Class 1-A finally crowd around Izuku. As Izuku is surrounded by his friends, he manages to see All Might approach the other two teachers amidst the barrage of comforting words and affectionate gestures that his classmates give him.

#-#-#-#

“He couldn’t tell me what caused it. He wants to stay with the rest of his classmates.”

“Are you _serious,_ All Might? Midoriya obviously needs some kind of psychiatric help, no matter the trigger if he reacts this badly...”

“Aizawa, you know I want nothing more than to get him that help. But right now? If we are to force him to sit this class out when he is so vehement about it, then even if we get him to Chiyo there is no way he would cooperate. We’ll have to do it in his terms.”

“If he gets worse, it is all on your head All Might.”

#-#-#-#

Eraserhead finally brings them back to their schedule when he yells, “Alright, now that little drama is done, it is time for us to get back to why we are here. Snipe?”

“Right.” The Professional Hero nods when the other teacher glances at his direction. “As many of you might already know, I am Snipe, the Gunslinger Hero and one of Yuuei’s many teachers. As my specialty lies in taking down and capturing Villains, I’ve been called here to help all of you learn how to do villain apprehension. Yes?”

Snipe directs the question to Tenya, who has his hand raised. “Snipe-sensei! If you are one of our teachers, then what kind of class do you normally teach?”

“Good question,” Snipe puts his hand over his hat, before quickly drawing out his two guns in one quick motion. “My usual class is for second years and third years – Long-Range Combat. It ain’t quite common, but some of the Quirks we help develop here in Yuuei just have better long-range applications, and it’s teaching you how to master them that I do.”

“Now then, I’ll make this quite clear.” Snipe spreads his arms out, showing off the two guns in his hands. “What I have here? These ain’t toys; they’re _weapons._ And it’s that mindset that I wish to impart to you all today, for all of the tools you have as well as your own Quirks.”

“We are Heroes, and as such, we must be aware of what destruction we are capable of doing. For it is only in doing so that we can wield these weapons-“

-All Might steps forward, throwing a dummy in front of Snipe-

“-so we can use them to protect the people and the peace in this society we live in.” Snipe shoots once, making Class 1-A jump at the loud bang, and as the dummy falls slowly to the ground, Snipe turns back to them. “Am I understood?”

Tenya gulps as he sees the dummy that was obviously designed to symbolize a Villain. His awe increases when he sees the hole placed directly at the right shin – if it was a real person who got shot like that, they would’ve been crippled, yet in the same time out of any mortal danger due to the injury not being placed near any major blood vessels.

“Yes, understood, Snipe-sensei!” he yells, prompting a similar chorus from the rest of his classmates.

As for Izuku, after watching all of that, he closes his eyes to fully internalize what he has just seen.

Not just the speech – though it was a good speech, and a good lesson besides – but also all of the differences that Snipe had shown compared to how Reborn would have done it in the same kind of situation.

Reborn wouldn’t have toyed with his hat like that, because Reborn only touched his hat when he was either smug or really serious. And when Reborn did it, it would then only magnify whatever the man was feeling – not feel like it had been an extra movement or a speech tic like Snipe’s had been.

The gunshot as well – Reborn had been very dramatic, prone to making a performance on a lot of things, but when it came to teaching lessons Izuku was used to Reborn striking at the heart of the matter immediately instead of dancing around it. It worked for Snipe, as it made Izuku and his classmates respect him more, but Reborn?

Reborn was blunt, rude and callous. Snipe was honorable, more polite, and a Hero.

Izuku could respect both of that, but.

( _They are different people._ )

When Izuku opens his eyes again, he knows that when he looks at Snipe he won’t see the shadow of his previous mentor anymore.

“Now then, first things first-“ Eraserhead speaks, but it is in that moment that Izuku is suddenly hit once more by the same unease that had ailed him earlier that morning. Immediately, Izuku begins looking all around them, trying to find the source of the feeling, and then-

Things are too fast.

A _hole_ is just opening in the air when suddenly Snipe is already shooting at it, the man’s reaction time absurdly quick as he already catches several figures coming out of the hole with potshots. Gasps of pain come from them, as well as shock, but Snipe keeps on shooting.

One of the voices from the hole yells, dark with rage and anger, “How-!”

Something grabs Izuku, and for a moment he struggles at the sudden motion before he realizes the one who is carrying him to be none other than All Might, his fellow classmates looking just as surprised as Izuku as they are stacked one-by-one on the Number One Hero’s shoulders.

“-All Might, you really need to get your protege’s ‘bad feelings’ checked.” Eraserhead is standing in front of the hole, his arms out and with his scarf already prepared for battle. “At this point, it’s almost ridiculous how accurate they have gotten.”

All Might laughs almost breathlessly at that, “At any rate, I’m not complaining about it!”

Right, Izuku had told All Might about his gut feelings, earlier before he had boarded the bus.

But for them to have taken him so seriously, to the point where what signs pointed to be a would-be ambush had been thwarted just because of it? In retrospect, Izuku really should’ve seen it coming. There were signs of All Might and Eraserhead being cautious and amped up since they had arrived into the model city – and it was only now that he was seeing the results.

The hole rapidly widens, and just like that, villains begin quickly spilling out of it. Some immediately collapse to the ground, groaning in pain at the gun wounds Snipe had made, while the rest look absolutely _pissed_ at the sudden turn of affairs.

The sight is so distracting that Izuku only remembers his own condition when All Might has put him down, along with his classmates, quite some distance away from the entire encounter. Not so far that Izuku didn’t have a clear view of the invaders, but far enough that they were mostly safe.

“Stay here.” All Might pats him on the shoulder, before glancing at the rest of Class 1-A. “I would have you children evacuate, if not for the fact that we don’t know if the villains haven’t invaded somewhere else. At least here, all of you’ll be out of the crossfire, and if need to be, I would be close enough to protect you all.”

He then turns back, “Now, I have to go help my fellow teachers-“

“Wait, All Might, we can’t just stand here!” Izuku yells, stepping forward as he tugs his gloves tighter around his hands. Around one of his right hand’s fingers, a ring with a beautiful yellow stone gleams over the white wings that decorates it. “We’re going to be Pro Heroes, we can also help!”

Katsuki yells, behind Izuku and looking a little incensed at everything that has happened so far, “Deku’s right, All Might! Those are the ones that tried kidnapping me and Deku before, right!? I want to blast them for all the trouble they’ve put me through!”

One by one, the rest of Izuku’s friends begin adding their two cents. While some, like Kouda and Mineta, were wary of fighting actual villains, most of Izuku’s classmates were more than ready to fight.

However, All Might only shakes his head, “Not now, students. While it may be true that in the future, all of you would be entrusted with the duty of protecting the peace, that is still in the future and today you are all still unprepared. Leave it to us, your teachers, to protect Yuuei for now, and have you all forgotten?”

All Might’s back is the last that Izuku sees before the man jumps back to the melee, the forces in the leap powerful enough that it kicks off massive dust-clouds in his wake.

“There will be no problem, _for I am here_!”

#-#-#-#

“This is bullshit, this is bullshit, this is _bullshit_!”

How!?

How had the Heroes known about their invasion!?

Their reaction time had been too fast for it to be anything else. The Heroes were amped up and ready for battle – not at all as caught off guard as Shigaraki had planned for them to be. They had to have been warned; they had to have prepared for their invasion.

But how that could have even happened, Shigaraki doesn’t know, and that _pisses_ him off.

“Shigaraki, they had expected us coming!” Kurogiri yells, even as the formless man warps away several bullets incoming their way.

“You think I haven’t noticed, Kurogiri!?” Shigaraki yells back, unable to keep the frustration from his words. “And as for the rest of you mooks, what do you think I have all of you here for? Those with ranged attacks – _shoot back!”_

“We’re trying, Shigaraki, but,” One of the random villains Shigaraki took with him today shouts, only to be interrupted as he and the guns on his shoulders get wrapped up in that infuriating _scarf._ “This guy over here is somehow stopping our Quirks! We can’t use them!”

“Of course you can’t, that’s _Eraserhead_ you’re fighting!” Shigaraki shoots back pointlessly, “Get past him and get at Snipe – he’s the one pinning us down with bullets!”

“Well you screaming at us isn’t helping at all- _aaargh!”_

As the other villain is taken down, Shigaraki has to fight down the urge to scream in frustration.

Shigaraki has to keep his calm, he knows. Sensei taught him that much. However, with how _nothing_ seems to be going as planned today, right from the beginning, he is struggling to keep that calm, especially since he knows that _All Might_ hasn’t even joined in yet with the fighting.

“Kurogiri!” He turns back to the man Sensei had entrusted him with. “What are _you_ doing?! Split them up now, as we planned!”

“Wasn’t our target to split up the students and acquire Midoriya Izuku? But at this range, I won’t be able to reach them-“

“It doesn’t matter!” Shigaraki has no time for this. “Just send Eraserhead away for now! Once he’s gone, we can finally get at Snipe and start attacking back!”

Nodding once, Kurogiri’s smoke expands to do as he is told, but just as Eraserhead is about to be engulfed by Warp, a irritatingly familiar voice speaks from behind them. “Sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, villains.”

_Since when did he-!_

A chop nearly comes for Shigaraki’s neck, a clear attempt to knock him out with one strike, but Sensei’s Noumu blocks it in time. So, with All Might this close to him and only Noumu separating him from the Symbol of Peace, Shigaraki manages to taunt:

“Hello, _Number One_. Welcome to your deathmatch.”

And just like that, Noumu punches back the Symbol of Peace, doing his job of keeping All Might busy. At least, this much is going as planned, Shigaraki consoles himself. Sensei’s work with this particular Noumu is anything but meticulous – with Shock Absorption and Super Regeneration, there is no way All Might would be getting past it anytime soon, if at all.

Turning back to Kurogiri, he is about to repeat his previous order when he sees the man’s torso wrapped with Eraserhead’s capture tool.

“Kurogiri-!”

“I apologize, Tomura!” Kurogiri struggles beneath the foot that Eraserhead has on his torso. “While you were being distracted by All Might, he locked down my Quirk and captured me!”

Eraserhead has only a droll reply to that. “I believe you have all quite telegraphed enough as to who is the source of the portals here. With this one down, there’s no way any of you’ll be escaping from here.”

“And before you think of coming up against Eraserhead and freeing him, think again.” Snipe walks up them, his guns locked on Shigaraki’s torso. “Put them up, hands-man. I’ve already defeated the rest of your allies around here – now, once All Might is done with that monster of yours, it’s all over for you.”

Despite everything, Shigaraki manages to chuckle at that. Truly, their trust in their Symbol was idiotic, almost funny in how confident they were, “True, you have us at a disadvantage, but even All Might can’t defeat Noumu-”

“ **Texas Smash**!”

Shigaraki’s mouth falls when he sees the Noumu fly off somewhere out of sight with just one punch from All Might.

“I must really be getting weaker.” The person of Shigaraki’s grudge and frustration says almost lacksadaisically, “In my prime, I would’ve managed to do that in just half of the time. Now, it’s taken me ten seconds to defeat something that is no brains and all muscle. Gran Torino would be smacking me now if he was here to see this.”

Eraserhead drawls, “Maybe that’s because you’re the same? That is to say, all muscle and no brains?”

“What did I do now to deserve that from you, Aizawa?”

Shigaraki manages to finally speak, “B-But All Might, our information is that you’re supposed to be weaker! This is cheating, this is unfair! I demand a redo!”

“All Might, please knock him out as well, wouldn’t you? I would do it myself, but I don’t want to allow this guy here to escape.”

Eraserhead saying that and tightening his scarf around Kurogiri is the last thing at Shigaraki knows before All Might is suddenly in his face and everything goes black.

#-#-#-#

“So, let me get this straight. Class 1-A was having a class here when all these villains suddenly went through a portal and tried attacking everyone?”

To say that Tsukauchi is shocked would be an understatement. True, the shock is also accompanied by a sense of relief considering how none of the students were injured – hell, given that it had been an ambush, the fact that none of the teachers were hurt either was a miracle – but the mere fact that there were villains that had been gutsy enough to challenge Yuuei?

It didn’t bode well for the future, especially considering the rash of kidnapping attempts that Tsukauchi himself had to handle not too long ago relating to a certain green-haired boy.

Once Toshinori nods, Tsukauchi continues, “And you’re sure that their target wasn’t just Midoriya-kun this time around?”

“I don’t doubt that it had been one of their sub-objectives, but considering that young man’s words and the presence of _that?_ ” Toshinori tilts his head towards the large group of subdued villains surrounded by policemen, specifically the large Noumu that he had fought earlier. “Their main target this time was _me,_ and they had been expecting me to be weak and easily defeated. And I would have been, had it not for one fact.”

“You were _healed_ by Midoriya-kun.” Tsukauchi hisses quietly, making All Might nod again. “Good thing we haven’t released that public statement about Midoriya-kun’s healing abilities then. If they had been forewarned...”

“Then perhaps today might have ended differently, yes. And I am not blind to the implications of them knowing about my injury either.”

The signs were all there. The repeated villain attacks, the amount of coordination today’s attempt showed, and the mere fact that _someone_ had known about All Might’s almost career-ending injury was pointing to the presence of a certain villain active once more behind the scenes.

“ _All for One._ ” Tsukauchi closes his eyes as he says out loud what the both of them are thinking. Tsukauchi hadn’t been there, too low a rank to have been informed when the man had been active, but over the course of the years and his friendship with All Might, he now knew just what kind of threat was out there now. “All Might, are you really sure that _he’s_ back?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck.” Tsukauchi, in a completely uncharacteristic moment, cusses. And why wouldn’t he? Maybe almost a year ago, he wouldn’t have reacted like this, but that was before he had gotten to know a certain boy.

And who else other than Midoriya Izuku would be the number one target of the man who stole the Quirks of others?

“I feel entirely the same.” Toshinori says, and the both of them just stand there for a moment, sharing a few seconds of pure frustration at the coming future. “But on lighter matters, at least today’s nothing but a complete victory for us Heroes.”

Tsukauchi can’t help but smile at that. “True.”

As if the world had waited for Tsukauchi to say exactly that, suddenly a pool of pure black smoke spilled from the center of the group of villains that they had captured. With a yell from one of the officers, Eraserhead immediately jumped into the fray, catching and pinning down Kurogiri with his Quirk, but at that point it had been too late.

Both Shigaraki and the Noumu had managed to escape.

“Shit!” Toshinori swears loudly as the both of them run towards the center of the incident, where Aizawa was standing on the mummified form of Kurogiri as another police officer tried to apologize to him.

“S-Sorry, I thought he was still s-sedated-!”

“It doesn’t matter now!” Eraserhead roars at Tsukauchi’s coworker – a rather skittish rookie that Tsukauchi thinks would need some comforting after this – before tightening his capture tool around Kurogiri. The entire time, his eyes gleamed as he kept his Quirk active to supress Kurogiri’s. “Why did you sacrifice yourself just to let them escape? You could’ve been the one to leave, but you focused on allowing them to escape first, that Shigaraki especially. From what I’ve seen, he’s just an immature brat, so for you to put him before you... What are you all planning?”

Formless as Kurogiri might be, Tsukauchi would never mistake how the man is focusing on All Might in that moment.

“Noumu remaining in his hands and out of your reach was merely a plus. But Shigaraki? He is important to his plans, especially in regards to defeating you All Might.” Kurogiri says, calm and composed for all that he was in enemy hands. “Today might be a loss for us, but as he might say, it only takes a few defeats before we finally win and destroy you all.”

“Who is this ‘ _he_ ’?” Eraserhead presses, rather literally with how his feet continued to press on the back of Kurogiri’s torso. “Answer me!”

Silence, and soon it becomes clear to everyone that Kurogiri is done speaking, at least for now. Eraserhead looks frustrated at that, and considering how Kurogiri had piqued the man’s curiosity no wonder, but to both All Might and Tsukauchi that is nothing more than a confirmation of their thoughts earlier.

Only that this time, it’s worse because somehow All for One was involving someone who so far had an unknown Quirk and a clear grudge against All Might.

Again, _fuck._

“Damn it...” Eraserhead sighs, unraveling his capture tool around Kurogiri before idly kicking Tsukauchi’s coworker, his eyes remaining on Kurogiri. “Hey, what are you waiting for? Sedate him now, before my eyes get tired.”

“A-Ah, yes, of course Eraserhead!”

As everything goes back to the way it was, for all that they now had two less villains that they had not even a minute ago, Tsukauchi takes the moment to turn back to his old friend who had gone pale at Kurogiri’s warning.

Tsukauchi can’t help himself. “Well, that was ominous. And I guess today’s not going to be a complete victory after all, so do you want me to say something to tempt fate again? Maybe this time, Eraserhead wouldn’t be the one to beat you to the punch.”

That seems to snap Toshinori out of his funk enough to get him to attempt to smack Tsukauchi, so Tsukauchi takes that as a little victory of his own for the day.

#-#-#-#

As for Midoriya Izuku...

“It’s starting. Like that letter said, something’s happening and it’s clear that Toshinori-san refuses to let me help him. But I _can_ help, I’ve also sworn to keep Toshinori-san safe and if I’m not aware of what to protect him from, how would I know what to do? No, I need to know, and I need to know it _now_.”

A small box of pure yellow, completely uninteresting save for an opening down on one of its sides, a circular hole that just waited for Flames to be offered.

It had appeared not too long ago, on his bed together with the ring that is now around his fingers and a white letter that had been addressed to him and him alone. The letter itself would’ve not caught Izuku’s attention, had it not for the fact that it had sealed with Flames that refused to die out on their own.

When Izuku had read the contents of the letter, Izuku knew that nobody would ever believe him if he told them of what he now knew, at least not before he told them of just who Reborn was and where his Flames had come from, but right now? Izuku was glad that he hadn’t told anyone about this yet.

“I need your help again...”

Otherwise, they might be trying to stop him now.

“... _Byakuran-san **.**_ ”

The Sun Mare Ring lights up in Sun Flames before Izuku inserts it into the Box Weapon, causing light to fill Izuku’s surroundings.

#-#-#-#

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So, one week, huh? Sorry about that.
> 
> Really, I tried releasing this chapter earlier, but personal matters interfered with hobbies. Honestly, until just recently I had even _forgotten_ that I had fanfics that I was working on, just to give an idea of how bad the past few weeks had been.
> 
> And I wish I can also promise that I’ll update soon, but even that’s something I can’t even do. I’ve only managed finish this due to a lull period, and starting tomorrow I’ll be working to save my education, and later, hopefully also my future career.
> 
> So yeah. I would be in an indeterminate hiatus as I try to fix my personal situation. Hope you guys don’t mind, and – keep this in mind please – there is no way I’ll be giving up on this fic, or my other fics. Writing is the only hobby I have that I can truly call my own, so once everything is fine again I’ll be back.
> 
> In the meantime? I’ll leave a personal challenge to you guys, my readers. The first one to correctly identify the chronological order in my chapters for this fic gets the right to give me a prompt, which I would then write once I’ve come back.
> 
> And I’ll be back – that is for certain.


	8. Burst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tenya meets Izuku.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I am very stressed.
> 
> Not about the reviews for last chapter – in fact, in light of how this week has gone, they’ve been easily the best part of my days. However, in regard with the personal matters, things can’t be more different.
> 
> You see, I’ve planned on using this week to the best of my ability to fix my personal affairs. When I released the chapter earlier this week, I expected it to be day after day of going out and meeting with several people and handling paperwork, and if that had been the case this week would have been a fruitful, if exhausting, week.
> 
> But then came along the sudden rash of storms in the Southeast Asia, and well that plan was certainly scuppered with me trapped indoors. For me, who normally tries to face problems with actions, there is nothing worse than to feel useless and unable to do anything, and for the past week it’s been exactly that and the bad weather is still ongoing.
> 
> Still, in light of that, at least I’ve managed to get enough time to write this up, though once more I make no promises for any coming updates. Here you go, the next chapter in this non-chronological fic.

**Chapter 8: Burst**

Tenya is positively vibrating in his seat. And he means that literally: with how his Quirk reacts very well with any kind of excitement, a fact that he knows has saved his older brother’s life many times over with how Engine could kick off in a moment, he is physically  _humming_ in energy even as their teacher introduces the new student.

“...so he’s shifting to our school in the meantime. Everyone, take care of him-”

With how amped up Tenya is getting, some of his classmates are already edging away slightly just in case Tenya might end up bursting from his seat.

“Iida?”

The teacher calls out his name, and Tenya basically _jumps_ to attention, “Yes, sir!?”

“You’re the Class President, so I’m leaving the job of introducing Midoriya-kun here to Soumei Junior High to you.” Tenya barely keeps himself from showing any overt expressions of joy at that; if anything, this was basically what Tenya wanted, a chance to meet the one and only _Midoriya Izuku_! “I can already see your enthusiasm, but could you curb it down a little? You’ll spook Midoriya-kun with all of your excitement.”

Tenya slows a bit at that, but then the object of their conversation only rubs the back of his head, “Ah, no, I wouldn’t mind really. N-Not that I think I’m _that_ special, just that I think I’m better than getting scared by someone else’s excitement, All Might knows how much I tend to mumble to myself all the time...”

As if to prove his own words right, Midoriya devolves into a bout of mumbling, prompting interest from everyone else in the classroom.

 _This_ was certainly not who they were expecting from all of the news feeds.

Their teacher just smiles oddly at their new transfer student for a moment before he then decides, “Alright, I guess that is enough introduction for the meantime. Midoriya-kun?”

Midoriya snaps out of his trance, “Uh, right, I was- yes, sensei?”

“You’ll be seated right there, in front of where Iida is seated. Now, I know I’ve already mentioned this to you, but don’t expect any allowances from us here, alright? Just because of who you are won’t change the fact that you are now my student, and so I expect nothing but the best from these coming six months. You’ve got that?”

Instead of being intimidated by their teacher’s stern words, Midoriya only gleams with what is perhaps the acceptance of the challenge behind them. “Of course, sensei. I expect nothing less.”

“Everyone get to your seats then so we can finally get this class started,” There is some shuffling, and once everyone, including Midoriya, is in their places, their teacher then begins with, “Alright, everyone please take out your English books to page 35, we’ll be discussing infinitives today...”

It takes all of Tenya’s willpower to keep his attention on the lesson instead of repeatedly glancing at Midoriya’s way. It is made all that harder by the fact that Midoriya is directly in front of him, but at least Tenya is doing better than most of his classmates, whose gazes are drawn like magnets to metal to the newest member of the class.

Still, as Tenya considers all of these odd English grammar rules, Tenya lets himself wonder about Midoriya’s response earlier:

When their teacher had treated Midoriya like any other student earlier, Midoriya had almost looked _relieved_. Like Midoriya had been expecting, no, _dreading_ special treatment to come his way once he arrived, and if that was how Midoriya was going to react at being treated special?

(Tenya’s vibrations slow down to a stop without him noticing.)

Maybe the teacher was right, in telling Tenya to curb his enthusiasm. Tenya is excited to get to know _the_ Midoriya Izuku in the flesh, yes, but that doesn’t mean he would be driving Midoriya to discomfort just because. After all, to do so would be to bring shame to the Iida name, and Tensei wouldn’t ever let it go if he heard Tenya had run off Midoriya Izuku of all people.

#-#-#-#

Alright, so earlier Tenya had decided to not treat Midoriya too special, at least to the best of his ability.

However, maybe that determination is all in vain because everyone, as in _everyone,_ has been giving Midoriya odd looks ever since Tenya started walking him around the school. Apparently, their English teacher was the exception, not the norm, because Tenya has even seen a few of the _school staff_ loitering in the hallways just to get a glimpse of their newest celebrity.

“So, this is the clinic. Midoriya-kun, whenever you are feeling unwell in class, I expect you to tell either me or the teacher about it so you could be accompanied towards this place. Do you understand?”

As Midoriya peeks a bit into the clinic, apparently taking in all of Soumei’s medical facilities, Tenya takes advantage of his distraction to shoo away some of their onlookers.

Good god, it was as though they’ve never seen a new person in their whole life.

(Tenya misses the whole irony of how these unappreciative thoughts are compared to his own excitement earlier.)

“Understood,” Midoriya smiles at Tenya’s words, and unconsciously, Tenya ends up mirroring the expression on his face. “I’ve been wondering about where the clinic was too, considering my own Quirk...”

Midoriya trails off at that, and while it piques Tenya’s curiosity – Quirk, why would the clinic be relevant to Midoriya’s Fire Quirk, could it be that it had some rather constrictive medical requirements like some Quirks Tenya knew? – when Midoriya’s intent to not explain any further becomes clear, Tenya decides that he could live not knowing.

“Alright then, if we’re done here we’ll move on to...”

As Tenya continues to list off the rest of the important places in Soumei, he feels Midoriya smiling from behind him the entire time. But in his reverie of playing the good guide and act of keeping Midoriya away from public scrutiny as much as possible, he never quite manages to focus on the sensation.

When Tenya is just about to finish his tour of Soumei though, he is surprised by who he meets:

“Tensei!?”

His older brother lackadaisically waves a hand towards their direction, “Hey, little brother. Nice to see you here.”

“Why are you here!? Don’t you have a patrol to be on?” Tenya shoots back, before he remembers that a certain someone is watching them both. Fighting down the urge to blush, Tenya reaffixes his glasses in an attempt to hide his face, “N-Not that I don’t mind seeing you here, Tensei, in fact I’m happy to see you, older brother. Still, as to _why_ you’re here...”

“Let’s just say I have a different assignment this time around,” Tensei smiles at Tenya before directing that same smile towards Midoriya. To Tenya’s surprise, his newest classmate smiles _back,_ in what is visibly recognition. “Good to see you again, Midoriya-kun. Has my brother been treating you well?”

“He’s been nothing but great since we’ve met! I’m so glad that I met Tenya-kun!” Midoriya praises, and this time Tenya fails to keep down the infernal blush from reaching his cheeks. Midoriya then tilts his head, a troubled expression on his face, “...so you’re the one assigned to me this time, Ingenium-san? I hope it doesn’t bother you though.”

“Who are you kidding, a chance to see such a bright kid as you again while also managing to keep an eye on my little brother? I’ve been the target of envy among the other Pro Heroes, let me tell you!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Tenya valiantly fights to get the attention on himself. First, to Tensei, “Tensei, you know Midoriya?”

Tensei’s smile dims as he grows serious, “Yeah, and it’s a good thing that I know you would pick this place last, Tenya, because we do need the privacy this place gives.”

This place being Soumei Academy’s pride and joy: the Quirk Training Field.

“The Quirk Training Field. A private place filled with all a person might need to train themselves.” Midoriya says beside Tenya, and in that moment, Tenya considers that perhaps Midoriya knew more about Soumei than he initially reckoned, because the other teenager speaks and _speaks_ , “If there is one thing that Soumei Junior High is different compared to most other schools, it is its capability to teach its students how to use their Quirks. The facilities are nothing compared to real Hero Schools, and the prices involved are what makes the tuition so expensive, but Soumei Academy with its security and ability to allow me to covertly train my Quirk is what made All Might choose this as the school I would be in before I enter Yuuei.”

Yuuei? Training? _All Might?_

Just what was happening here?

“Tenya,” Tensei places a hand on his shoulder, “As my little brother, I’ll let you in into a little secret of ours...”

Before the afternoon is over, Tenya’s head is swimming with information.

#-#-#-#

So, apparently, Midoriya Izuku was an individual targeted by Villains and a person who needed a near-constant watch just so he wouldn’t get kidnapped.

In retrospect, Tenya should’ve realized that by himself. Even without knowing everything that he knew now about Midoriya’s Quirk – as ridiculous as said Phoenix Flames turned out to be – just the fact of how Midoriya’s name reached international awareness should have made that quite clear.

Still... “Tensei, you knew that my tour would end here? Or that I’ll even be the one to deliver to Midoriya his tour around the school?”

“You’re the Class President of your classroom, plus Midoriya-kun practically _fought_ to be your classmate once he found out about you from me, little brother. There really was no question that you’ll be the one giving him his tour.” This has Tenya turning open-mouthed at a suddenly tomato-red Midoriya. “And as for ending your tour in this particular destination, it wasn’t just me who figured _that_ out.”

Catching the implications, Tenya’s eyes go wide at Midoriya, “You...”

“From what Ingenium-san told me, you’re the kind of person to try and treat me normally once you’ve figured out my situation, and once I’ve met you in person, I knew you’ve proven him right,” Midoriya is scratching at one cheek, his face still a little red. “Since that was the case, I knew you’d probably end the tour in some place with the most privacy, and what place was more private in this school than the Quirk Training Field?”

If Midoriya was aware of Tenya’s efforts, “...you were aware of how I was keeping away other people’s attention off of you, weren’t you.”

It is not a question, and with the way Midoriya is turning away from him, Tenya feels the need to fight down the blush from reaching his cheeks again.

Watching the two of them, Tensei only grins, “Now then, since we’re here, why don’t we use the facilities right here? I’ve already booked this entire place for the two of you.”

Tenya has never been so relieved at the idea of more training before.

#-#-#-#

Skip forward a few months.

Tenya has lived being Midoriya, no, _Izuku_ ’s classmate at this point, and to call it an experience would be an understatement. There are some negatives – especially in regards with taking care of the shorter boy, Tenya has never had a more _reckless_ person in his life, and that was something considering Tensei was his brother – but most of it is a joy to experience and something Tenya wants to continue experiencing even in Yuuei.

Even most of Soumei has gotten used to Izuku’s presence, something that Tenya is simply glad for. It took a while, but after a month nearly all of their classmates finally managed to see past the fame and started treating Izuku just like any other classmate, though that in itself was a bit of an impossibility.

Because really, in the end, Izuku wasn’t normal, no matter how humble the other teenager could get.

Izuku was _inspiring._ With his manners, charisma, and determination to become a Hero, it was all too easy to admire the other teenager, and Tenya likes to think that most of Soumei at this point felt that same respect.

It wasn’t as though anybody could grudge the boy’s academic standing either. Izuku was practically the perfect student – alright, he had his flaws, like his habit to mumble or to go off-tangent on Hero-related subjects, but Izuku always worked with others, did his requirements, and scored high on the exams.

Combine that with the teenager’s natural talent in regards with most other things, really was there any wonder that Izuku had a little fanclub – something that was even outstandingly rare in such a strict place as Soumei?

“Where’s Midoriya?” One of their classmates asks one day, and Tenya lifts his head from several sheets he had been reviewing. “He let me borrow his notebook so I could copy his notes, but I can’t find him so I could return them. Any idea where he is?”

“Doesn’t our Pres usually know where Midoriya-kun is?” Another one asks, and the hairs on the back of Tenya’s head rise up as everyone turns to him. “Pres?”

Tenya glances hesitantly at his worksheets. He had been nearly done too... “Are you sure that you can’t just leave it on his desk?”

“Not if you want to leave him without his notes when the exam is just a few hours away.”

Izuku never crammed or procrastinated on his work, such was the other boy’s work ethic and everyone in the classroom knew it, but they also knew that their classmate would appreciate the chance to review one last time before the exam.

(Also, it would be just like Izuku to let someone else have his notes anyway even if he hadn’t managed to review.)

“Alright, I’ll get these to him.” Shuffling his own papers back in order, Tenya takes a moment to return his worksheets into his bag before he stands up to take Izuku’s notes from his concerned classmate. “I’ll be off now, but don’t make come back to you guys making a mess. The teacher gave us this study period for a _reason._ ”

Tenya leaves to a chorus of ‘Yes’ – some even going as far as sarcastically saying ‘Yes Mom’ – and with only a moment’s thought, he heads to the Training Grounds. There were only two things that Izuku tended to do in his free time after all, and Tenya explicitly knew that Izuku tended to do his Hero Fanboying late at night and online.

Within ten minutes, he arrives at the grounds, and what he sees gives him a shock.

A bruised and bleeding Midoriya Izuku.

“Izuku-kun!” The notes forgotten, Tenya runs to his friend’s side, checking up on Izuku’s physical condition as soon as he comes within physical range. “What happened, did you get attacked, how did Tensei not notice this, did an invader get past the security, are you alright- of course not, you are bleeding and I believe an arm should bend _that way_ -“

“C-Calm down, Tenya-kun!” Izuku tries to put his hands on Tenya’s shoulders to calm him down, only to wince at what was clearly a broken arm. Tenya only gasps in horror as he watches said arm suddenly begin knitting together in what was obviously an exhaustive process of Izuku’s Phoenix Flames at work. “S-See? I can heal myself, and it’s fine, it’s fine, I wasn’t attacked, it was just a training accident-”

“A training **accident**!?” Tenya yells in outrage, before immediately scolding his friend, “Midoriya Izuku, I know you can heal yourself, but that doesn’t mean you can just injure yourself like this because you were training! Have you even forgotten that your Flames can’t cure exhaustion, especially your own? And what if you knocked yourself unconscious with what you were doing!? Who would heal you then, especially with nobody watching over you!? Izuku-kun, you really-“

Apparently, seeing that Tenya was now more _angry_ than _worried,_ Izuku idly comments, “Tenya-kun, you sound like Mom.”

Undeterred, Tenya concludes, “Good, because Inko-san needs all the help she can get with how reckless you are! Good grief, Izuku-kun, please take care of yourself more! Don’t you know how much you worry us all? At this point, I’ll be getting grey hairs before I even become a Pro Hero!”

Tenya’s friend pouts at that, looking scolded. Satisfied with the result of his lecture, Tenya then continues to ask, “Now then, Izuku-kun, what were you trying to do that got yourself so injured?”

Izuku mumbles something beneath his breath, but it is too soft for Tenya to hear.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

Izuku mumbles again, a little louder this time and looking a bit red.

“...was ‘rying to fly.”

Tenya can’t quite believe his ears. “I’m sorry, did you just say you were trying to _fly?_ ”

“Um, yes.”

Deep breaths, Tenya, deep breaths. You can handle this, this is not the first time you’ve had to handle your friend’s recklessness, especially combined with his sheer creativity and just how the _hell_ did Izuku even arrive to the conclusion that he needed to learn how to _fly-_

“Why.”

Izuku looks a lot better now, apparently having finally healed himself fully, but the other teenager still manages to keep that ‘injured little animal’ look. And despite Tenya’s best efforts to resist it, he softens against his will at his friend’s appearance.

“Tenya-kun, you of all people should know how mobility is key to becoming a successful Hero. And while yes, I can probably simulate at a lower level the same kind of super leaps All Might is capable of doing with my Flames reinforcing my legs, it still doesn’t quite compare to the sheer control true flight provides.”

Tenya could really see his friend’s point, really, but, “How did you get so injured then?”

Izuku goes bright red. “As it turns out, while thrust is easily achievable, _controlled and directed_ thrust is another matter entirely. I’m already thinking up of ways to fix it, but it either needs more Flames than I could use without it being overly energy-intensive, or reflexes that I plainly don’t have.”

Tenya imagines Izuku suddenly blasting off the ground only to hit the ceiling aaand, yeah, that would certainly explain all the injuries, especially with how stubborn Tenya knew Izuku could get. His friend probably repeatedly made a few failed attempts before he even considered taking a break.

Izuku then whispers, “Maybe that’s where the whole Intuition thing kicks in,” but it is too soft for Tenya to hear again.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” Izuku says hurriedly, before changing the subject. “Anyway, why are you here, Tenya-kun? Are you planning on training your Engine too?”

Tenya sighs breezily before picking back up the notebook he was carrying so he could smack his friend in the face with it. “Midoriya Izuku. We have an exam in a few hours, have you forgotten?”

Within a moment, Izuku goes pale, “Wait, you’re right!”

“You’ve reviewed your notes already?”

“Yes, of course, but another review wouldn’t be remiss...”

“Good, because you can do it by yourself now, as I won’t be helping you. Good luck reviewing on your own with your exhaustion!”

“B-But, Tenya-kun-!”

“Consider this to be negative reinforcement!”

As Tenya drags his friend out of the Quirk Grounds, he considers how Izuku is still so insistent on becoming stronger and more skilled for all that he could already do with his Quirk. Izuku could already selectively burn targets, heal people, or even freeze objects in unmeltable ice, but still Izuku wanted to become better?

Tenya’s lips thin.

That certainly meant that Tenya had to work so he could keep up with his friend. There was no way he was willing to be left behind.  Maybe Tensei would be willing to teach him a technique or two...

#-#-#-#

“Class President, there’s a commotion just outside the classroom!”

Immediately, Tenya turns away from his notebooks to look at the seat in front of him. At this point, it had become an enforced habit to check on Izuku first whenever something came up – because Izuku usually was the center of these messes anyway – and when it turns out to be empty, Tenya isn’t even surprised anymore.

Standing up, he rushes to the door, and as soon as he peeks his head out of it he sees exactly what had everyone so amped up.

What he sees makes him freeze.

“M-Midoriya-san, I’ve always admired you from a-afar, and I-“

Izuku has never looked so uncomfortable. At this point, Tenya knows that his friend has gotten used to the staring and fame, mostly out of necessity, but in the end he also knows Midoriya Izuku would always be at his core an awkward but endearing teenager with far more humility than most people would be in his position.

Nothing could probably be worse to Izuku, Tenya knows, than having to handle someone with an actual _crush._

So as soon as Izuku catches sight of Tenya’s face, Izuku starts sending helpless looks at his way. And Tenya wants to help, really he does, but in the end Tenya just hesitates.

After all, what could Tenya do in this kind of situation? He never had the experience of being confessed to by someone himself, and just inserting himself into this could only makes things worse. For one, it could end up wrecking the images of everyone involved, and their underclassman would be surely be shamed in front of all these people if Tenya just barged into her confession.

Plus, with this little slip of a girl continuing to struggle with what was clearly becoming a confession of love, was it right to spit on the courage it clearly took her to get this far?

So, in the end, Tenya can only watch quietly and leave Izuku to handle this.

“-please, Midoriya-san, will you go out with me on a date!”

She finishes, bowing her head and holding out two movie tickets.

For a moment all is silent. It is clear that everyone is holding their breath to see how Midoriya Izuku would react, and as shameful as it makes Tenya feel, he is one of them. Tenya wants to see how his friend would handle this, considering all he knew about Izuku.

A few seconds of more silence and still no response. This goes on for longer, until the girl looks close to breaking into tears, but then finally Izuku begins to move.

Placing his hands around their underclassman’s preoffered tickets, Izuku smiles sadly before speaking, “Wakamatsu-san, I’m sorry but... I’m afraid I’ll have to reject your offer.”

Her breath hitches, and that’s when Tenya finally finds his moment to intervene, especially once Izuku nods at his direction with an unspoken signal.

“Everyone, what are you doing here!? You’re all loitering outside our classroom; everyone return to your respective classes immediately if you have no business to do here!”

As to be expected, there is some outrage to that announcement from Tenya, but Tenya doesn’t give anyone ground before he is already pushing everyone else away and giving Izuku and his admirer the privacy they needed.

Izuku shoots him a grateful look before returning his attention to the girl who was breaking down in front of him, and the last thing that Tenya sees before he leaves is his friend talking to Wakamatsu in quiet tones.

When Izuku finally enters the classroom, fifteen minutes later and looking absolutely tired, Tenya is there, waiting for his friend and ready to give him companionship.

(“I couldn’t accept her offer,” Izuku somberly explains to Tenya later. “Not only did I barely know her, if I get into a relationship with someone they’ll just get targeted. As much as I knew it would hurt Wakamatsu-san, I couldn’t put her in that kind of danger.”

 _Why do you seem to be in so much pain then,_ Tenya wants to ask, but looking at that expression on his friend’s face keeps him quiet.

So instead, he keeps himself focused on the jogging they are doing, once more within the privacy of the Quirk Training Grounds. And really, did he have to ask? From what he had heard of Izuku’s past, both from outside sources and the boy’s mouth himself, for Izuku the idea of somebody liking him romantically would have been something out of a dream.

Even if Izuku had no actual interest in a romance, the mere fact that he had no choice but to reject the offer must hurt.

Still, when Izuku manages a smile after their jog, Tenya thinks that he’s done something right, just providing his friend with companionship and a listening ear. That while he might never have the right words to say, just by being there he could help Izuku.

“We’ll become Pro Heroes,” Izuku promises before the day ends.)

#-#-#-#

Even more weeks pass.

“So, tomorrow’s the Exam, right?”

Tenya immediately knows _which_ exam Izuku is talking about. After all, what else had Tenya had been preparing for the past month, and what other school could ever catch their interest than Yuuei? “I will most certainly pass, Izuku-kun.”

Tenya says this with utmost certainty, and Izuku chuckles good-naturedly.

“That, I have no doubt you would, Tenya-kun.” Izuku grins at Tenya sunnily, and Tenya can’t help but smile back. “I know that I should consider myself lucky, to be able to get in with just a recommendation, but really I almost envy you in that you could actually take the Yuuei Entrance Exam.”

That, Tenya is surprised to hear, “Really, Izuku-kun?”

“Yeah. I mean, it was always my dream to enter Yuuei, and of course that included me managing to pass the Exam. I had no idea what the exam entails, still don’t, but that didn’t stop me from fantasizing it from time to time.”

Izuku’s smile wavers, and immediately Tenya knows what passes in his friend’s mind at that point. After all, what else could bring down his friend’s mood?

_I’ve been wishing it, even back then when I was still Quirkless._

“What kind of examinations did you imagine? And by that, yes, I mean the practical.” Tenya asks, both to change the subject and because he is honestly curious what Izuku thought could be in the Exams.

That immediately causes his friend to brighten. “Ah, about that, there was this running theory online...!”

Tenya listens carefully as Izuku continues to detail theory after theory, from the most realistic to even the outlandish that actually gets some chuckles out of Tenya. After all, while the idea of having to spar with some of the Heroes that worked as staff in Yuuei made scary sense, the theory of exam applicants being trapped in metal cages and dropped into the ocean as a test just from the rumors of Yuuei ordering a lot of steel prior to their exams was just ridiculous.

(But really, nothing was more ridiculous than the theory about giant robots.)

Their conversation goes on just like that, passing on theory after theory, Tenya even adding some of his own, and before Tenya knows it, the day is over.

In less than 24 hours, Tenya was going to have the most important exam in his entire life.

“I’ll be at the Todoroki’s again,” Izuku says before Tenya has to leave. “Since Shouto-kun wouldn’t be participating too, All Might thought that it would be a good idea to leave me there for tomorrow while he observes the exam. We’d be training for the entire day.”

“I’ll tell you how it went,” Tenya promises.

(In the end, as it turns out, it _is_ giant robots. As soon as Tenya manages to stop laughing at the sheer irony of that fact, he is besieged with glares by rest of those listening to Present Mic’s explanation of the Exam, and no one glares better than a certain explosive blond.

Said blond manages to catch Tenya’s eye for the rest of the exam, first in abhorrence at the sheer lack of respect the blond showed for everyone, but when the Zero-Point came and a purple-haired boy needed to be rescued after _he_ saved a girl from the Zero Point’s path?

Tenya’s abhorrence turns into respect once the blond drives his way between the other boy and the Zero-Pointer, _blasting_ the Zero Pointer off its mechanical feet with one supremely massive explosion.

Of course, the respect is lowered a bit when Tenya has to step in himself just to rescue everyone else from all the resultant shrapnel, but that gives Tenya the chance to use his Recipro Burst for the first time, so there’s that at least.)

When the exam is over, Tenya immediately makes two video calls. The first, to Tensei so he could tell his family everything, and the second to Izuku to fulfill his promise.

Tensei, of course, reacts with excitement to Tenya’s news, saying that Tenya most certainly got in with how he behaved during the Exam, but as for Izuku?

Izuku looks a little battered through the video call, with his hair even covered with a bit of soot. Upon seeing his friend’s state, Tenya immediately forgets about the exam entirely to express his worry, but Izuku only waves away Tenya’s concern.

“It’s fine, it’s fine Tenya-kun. I’m fine, I promise.”

“What happened to make you look like that?” Tenya presses. “Are you training yourself too hard again? Shouldn’t Endeavor be watching over you?”

“It’s nothing like that, really. This wasn’t from the training, just,” Izuku pauses at this, visibly grasping for the right words, “I think... I think I just changed someone’s future today. No, not just one, but the lives of _two_ good people in a bad life.”

Tenya can feel the honesty and satisfaction in his friend’s words, so he lets it drop when Izuku doesn’t seem to want to explain any further. “If that’s what you really think, then I’m sure you have. You do have that quality in you, to help other people grow.”

“Nevermind that,” Izuku blushes at the compliment for a second before forging on, “About the Exam! Just what happened!? Shouto-kun seems to have an idea how the Exam works, but he refuses to tell me about it! Please, tell me everything, Tenya-kun!”

And just like that, Tenya shares the events of his exam to Izuku. Izuku expresses surprise to some parts of Tenya’s story – the mention of the blond in particular has his eyes go wide for some reason – but in the end Tenya enjoys the entirety of the call, even when Tensei arrives to pick him up and he has to say goodbye to his friend.

(It is only later on that night, just before Tenya goes to sleep, that he realizes that Izuku’s left ring finger had a new ring around it during the video call.)

#-#-#-#

All Might himself delivers the letter to Tenya.

“Little brother, do you even need to open it? We could just leave it closed, you know, considering we _know_ just what’s in it.” Tensei says, and Tenya has to smile when Izuku expresses outrage beside him.

Tenya really should feel disturbed, really, that Izuku is trying the live vicariously through him for the experience of the Yuuei Entrance Exam, but somehow the entire thing only makes him feel warm inside.

“Settle down, Izuku-kun!” Tenya laughs at his friend before holding out his letter, “Ignore what my brother says! There is no way I want to miss the experience of opening this myself, and I’m sure you feel the same thing as well! Now then, to open it!”

Tenya _rips_ the letter open and...

Oh. No wonder All Might was trying to leave the vicinity before he was stopped by Tensei. Because even though a holographic All Might is currently telling Tenya that _he passed_ , and not only that, that he passed as the _second highest scorer_ of their entire batch, none of them pays any attention to it, not when a very real All Might is beet-red and trying to seem unaffected before them all.

“All Might...”

That coming from Izuku seems to be enough to break All Might’s facade. Immediately, the Number One curls up into a small ball, the absurdly large man clearly trying to hide himself.

“How ostentatious, it’s so embarrassing...!”

 _That’s true,_ everyone nods as they glance at the hologram. With the bright colors and the entire stage behind All Might, it made for a rather embarrassing sight. It might have been different, yeah, if the real All Might hadn’t been here when Tenya opened it, but as it was everyone couldn’t help but just compare the holographic All Might with the real one and find it _funny._

In fact... “Tensei, stop laughing, you’re acting disrespectful to All Might!”

Tenya’s brother merely ignores his scolding, tears forming in his eyes in his hilarity. “B-But, the _colors!_ The _stage_!”

_“Am I looking at the right camera?”_

That question from the holographic All Might just sets Tensei even further into his laughter, while the real All Might somehow gets redder. Izuku too, has a big smile on his face as he laughs, and really in the face of that?

Tenya manages to laugh as well, deep and continuing long after the hologram has finished delivering its message. Even All Might himself manages to get in a few chuckles near the end.

“So, you’ve got that, young man?” All Might finally speaks again, once they’ve all finished laughing at his holographic self. “Will you be joining us in Yuuei!

Tenya glances at Izuku. Izuku nods.

_We’ll become Pro Heroes._

“Of course, All Might!” Tenya thumps his fist over his chest. “I’ll be glad to make Yuuei my Hero Academia!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So, that’s that. Honestly, writing this and reading those reviews was the best part of this week. Normally, I would have enjoyed a week-long of just lying in and sleeping around, but... Yeah, I wish all this bad weather would just come to an end soon so I can finally do _something_.
> 
> Back to the story, congratulations to _torinokomachi_ for correctly guessing the order of my chapters so far! The order goes: Renew, Warmth, Explosion, Fire, Phoenix, Balm, Ignite. As for this particular chapter Burst, it’s rather special in that it would span across the timeline for several chapters worth. The context clues for the timeline are all there throughout the chapters, some in particular being:
> 
> 1) Chapter 2, Phoenix, where All Might discusses Izuku with the rest of Yuuei staff stands particularly late in the timeline because it’s where All Might finally decides to become a Yuuei teacher and it mentions the other chapters (namely Chapters 4 and 5 about Shouto and Katsuki respectively). This sets Chapter 6, Balm, after it because Toshinori mentions that decision of his on the dining table. :D
> 
> 2) Chapter 3, Warmth is rather self-explanatory as it is set to be immediately after Izuku activates his Flames for the first time, but observant people probably would’ve also noticed my little Easter Egg there where Tsukauchi mentions his son. Those who read my other fic Juxtapose, I hope you guys noticed this particular easter egg as well as its counterpart in Chapter 6.
> 
> 3) As for why Chapter 4 (Shouto’s chapter) is set after Chapter 5 (Katsuki’s chapter)? Many who made their guesses missed this, but if you guys remember how Compress taunts Izuku about getting a better capture technique, then yes that is exactly why Izuku decided to learn Zero Point Breakthrough. After all, if Izuku could freeze Compress, the villain would’ve certainly not managed to escape.
> 
> Now then, so that’s that for the timeline so far, so when I release more chapters, expect me to mix it up even more. The fun with non-chronological fics like this is that it makes it even more interesting to plan out foreshadowing and cliffhangers, as I believe you guys might feel about last chapter’s particular twist at the end.
> 
> When would Byakuran and the whole thing about the Mare Ring and Box be explained? In another chapter. :D
> 
> As for _torinokomachi_ ’s prompt, their request as a reward for correctly guessing the timeline was “dorm shenanigans”. As my plans for the timeline still haven’t reached quite that far, it’ll take a while, but please do expect that prompt to come up some time these coming chapters.
> 
> But for now, please do leave kudos and review! They really do help to keep my mood up in these rather troublesome days.


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